Opinion ID: 2070061
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: compelling state interest in education

Text: In Sherbert, 374 US 403, the United States Supreme Court stated that if there were any incidental burden on a free exercise right, it must be justified by a `compelling state interest within the State's constitutional power to regulate....' There is no doubt that a state has a compelling interest in the education of its citizens. In Pierce v Society of Sisters, 268 US 510, 534; 45 S Ct 571; 69 L Ed 1070 (1925), the Court, while ruling that a state cannot compel all students to be educated in public schools, noted that [n]o question is raised concerning the power of the State reasonably to regulate all schools, to inspect, supervise and examine them, their teachers and pupils; to require that all children of proper age attend school, that teachers shall be of good moral character and patriotic disposition, that certain studies plainly essential to good citizenship must be taught, and that nothing be taught which is manifestly inimical to the public welfare. In Brown v Topeka Bd of Ed, 347 US 483, 493; 74 S Ct 686; 98 L Ed 873 (1954), the Supreme Court again emphasized the magnitude of the state's interest: Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Finally, in Central Dist No 1 Bd of Ed v Allen, 392 US 236, 245-247; 88 S Ct 1923; 20 L Ed 2d 1060 (1968), the Supreme Court explicitly acknowledged the state's interest in private schools: [A] substantial body of case law has confirmed the power of the States to insist that attendance at private schools, if it is to satisfy state compulsory-attendance laws, be at institutions which provide minimum hours of instruction, employ teachers of specified training, and cover prescribed subjects of instruction.... [I]f the State must satisfy its interest in secular education through the instrument of private schools, it has a proper interest in the manner in which those schools perform their secular educational function. Michigan particularly has a significant and deeply rooted interest in education. Our Constitution, art 8, ง 1, reflects the language of the North-west Ordinance of 1787: Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. Governor James Blanchard elaborated on this in his January 18, 1984, State of the State address: For decades, the promise of education has been the ladder of opportunity in this state. Hard-working people, honest people, lived here or came here, knowing that they themselves could earn a decent living working with their hands โ but even more important, that their children could find an even better future working with their minds because of Michigan's fine schools and colleges and universities. See also Michigan Female Seminary v Secretary of State, 115 Mich 118, 120; 73 NW 131 (1897) (It has always been the policy of this State, as indicated by the provisions of its Constitution and a long line of legislative enactments, to encourage the cause of education.). It is clear that Michigan's interest in education is long-standing and of the highest importance. A compelling state interest in education does not necessarily justify all forms of educational regulation. For example, in Yoder, 406 US 236, the United States Supreme Court balanced the religious claims of the Amish against the state's interest in requiring compulsory education until age sixteen. The Court concluded that despite the state's admittedly strong interest in compulsory education, it had failed to demonstrate with sufficient particularity how its interest would be adversely affected by granting an exemption to the Amish. The Court placed great emphasis on the adequacy of the Amish vocational education alternative to secondary education, the fact that the Amish children were not going to live in society at large, but in a closed, farming society, and the fact that compulsory high school education could ultimately destroy the Amish community. Yoder, 406 US 212. None of these factors are relevant in this case, and, more importantly, the state's interest here is not how much time should be spent in school, but the qualifications of the teachers themselves. The state's interest in education necessarily extends to an interest in teachers because a primary and vital ingredient to a good education is good teachers. James Garfield expressed this sentiment in the following manner: I am not willing that this discussion should close without mention of the value of a true teacher. Give me a log hut, with only a simple bench, Mark Hopkins on one end and I on the other, and you may have all the buildings, apparatus and libraries without him. [Address to Williams College Alumni, New York, December 28, 1871. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (14th ed), p 741a.] Michigan has long recognized the importance of qualified teachers. In 1843, O.C. Comstock, Superintendent of Public Instruction, stated: Eligible teachers are all-important. This fact is now more deeply and generally impressed on the public mind than formerly.... It was once imagined that almost every man of a competent education could teach a school. But to this proposition there are many exceptions. It does not follow that because a man has received a liberal education, he is therefore a lawyer or physician.... And, by parity of reasoning, it is plain that an acquaintance with general literature and science does not, of necessity, prepare one for the arduous but delightful business of educating the underlying mind. Such preparation is chiefly derived from the study of the science and art of teaching. [Jackson, State Control of Public Instruction in Michigan, pp 154-155 (1926) (quoting O.C. Comstock).] Therefore, to the extent that certification of teachers furthers education, it can be considered a compelling state interest. Those certification requirements which involve gaining expertise in a particular substantive field, taking classes in a program of general or liberal education, student teaching, and taking a few basic courses in education, are clearly aimed at and closely related to the goal of producing competent teachers. [9]