Opinion ID: 1680628
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1998 Amendments to Article IX, Section 1

Text: My criticism of the majority's interpretation of article IX, section 1 is confirmed by looking at how the amendments to article IX were presented to the voters in 1998. Consistent with the plain meaning of the text, the ballot summary reveals that: (1) the first sentence was added as a declaration of the value of education; (2) the second sentence was added to establish adequate provision for education as a paramount duty of the state; and (3) the third sentence was modified to expand the terms of the existing mandate relative to public schools. Nowhere in this ballot summary were the voters informed that by adopting the amendments, they would be mandating that the public school system would become the exclusive means by which the State could fulfill its duty to provide for education. The full text of the 1998 ballot proposal read as follows (deleted words are stricken and added language is underlined):