NY Appeals' Court Affirms Right to Sound Basic Education but Rejects Rochester Students' Claims

Explicating in detail the meaning of the Court of Appeals' 1995 holding in CFE v. State of New York that all students in the State of New York are entitled to "the opportunity for a sound basic education," the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, refused to extend this constitutional right to include special problems raised by concentrations of poverty and racial isolation. In a decision issued late last month, the intermediate-level appeals court concluded that the State's highest court meant to ensure "the sufficiency of State funding or the adequacy of the educational services and facilities being provided," but not "wholesale academic failures" that result from factors other than funding and adequate services and facilities.

Plaintiffs in Paynter v. State of New York, arguing on behalf of the 37,000 public school students in Rochester, New York, claimed that the intense concentrations of poverty in the school district --- in which 90% of the students are below the federal poverty level --- combined with the racial isolation caused by current school district boundaries deny students their right to a sound basic education. By a 4 to 1 vote, the intermediate appeals court dismissed these claims, as well as plaintiffs' further contentions that the state's housing policies and requirements for school district zoning were racially discriminatory. Justice Samuel L. Green, dissented. Arguing that the State is responsible for ensuring that the school districts it has created do not take actions which impede the delivery of a sound basic education, he would have let the case proceed to trial.

The Paynter plaintiffs intend to petition the Court of Appeals to reverse the Fourth Department's decision. Since the Fourth Department reaffirmed students' basic right to the opportunity for a sound basic education, and plaintiffs' claims in Paynter go beyond Justice DeGrasse's decision in CFE v. State, this decision is not expected to affect the outcome of the CFE appeal, which is currently awaiting decision from the Appellate Division, First Department. In any event, final clarification of the extent of the constitutional entitlement to a sound basic education must await a further, definitive ruling of the Court of Appeals.

Prepared January 2002