Court Opinion

ID: 9722063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:16:06.762153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:30.427113
License: Public Domain

PAGE, Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in the judgment).
I respectfully dissent. I believe that, because education is a fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution, the state’s duty toward its children is not satisfied unless it provides equal educational opportunities for all children. This duty is not satisfied when some children receive an “adequate” education while others receive a more-than-adequate education.
*321The Supreme Court has consistently recognized the tremendous importance of education in this country.
[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. Such an opportunity, tchere the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right %vhich rmist be made available to all on equal terms.
Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483, 493, 74 S.Ct. 686, 691, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954) (emphasis added). Minnesota has recognized the importance of educating children as well. In State v. Newstrom, 371 N.W.2d 525 (Minn. 1985), Justice Wahl noted with approval that:
In Brown itself, the Court relied for its revolutionary holding on the recognition that the circumstances under which a child is educated can and do impart to children social messages of their claims to equality and self-respect which “may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”
Id. at 532 (citing Brown, 347 U.S. at 494, 74 S.Ct. at 691). Yet with today’s holding, we send the social message to some of our children that opportunities for the future which come with the best education are only available if they were fortunate enough to be born into a family living in a wealthy school district.
Unlike the Minnesota Constitution, the United States Constitution does not have an Education Clause; and, therefore, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to find education a fundamental right in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1975). Even so, the Supreme Court acknowledged this country’s “historic dedication to public education.” Id. at 30, 93 S.Ct. at 1295.
A fundamental right is a right that is expressly or implicitly protected by the constitution. State v. Gray, 413 N.W.2d 107, 111 (Minn.1987). Thus, the court correctly holds that education is a fundamental right in Minnesota, as it is expressly guaranteed by our state constitution. Minn. Const, art. XIII. We have traditionally held that strict scrutiny will be applied where a fundamental right has been limited. Essling v. Markman, 335 N.W.2d 237, 239 (Minn.1983). However, the court has chosen to apply the rational basis test rather than strict scrutiny to determine whether Minnesota’s school finance system violates any child’s fundamental right to an education. I believe that application of the rational basis test in this case is contrary to established precedent in the area of fundamental rights. See, e.g., University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 357, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 2782, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978) (Brennan, White, Marshall, and Blaekmun, JJ., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part).
Strict scrutiny should be given to any legislative action which affects a child’s right to an education. Minnesota’s school finance system directly affects each Minnesota child’s fundamental right to an education. To pass strict scrutiny, such a classification must be necessary for a compelling government interest. Bolin v. State, Dept. of Pub. Safety, 313 N.W.2d 381, 383 (Minn.1981) (citing Illinois State Bd. of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party, 440 U.S. 173, 184-5, 99 S.Ct. 983, 990-91, 59 L.Ed.2d 230 (1979)). Under strict scrutiny, this funding scheme fails because there is no compelling state interest in creating disparities in the educational opportunities for children of differing school districts. While the state has a compelling interest in providing extra funding for districts with a large concentration of low income students, for districts with sparse populations, for desegregation expenses, or for complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act, no compelling interest exists for creating disparities in educational opportunity which
*322are based solely on a school district’s wealth. As noted in Justice Tomljanovich’s concurring opinion, the state also has a compelling interest “in encouraging additional public money to be spent on education,” but there can be no compelling interest in creating disparities in educational opportunity. Therefore, I would hold that the provisions of the school finance system before us abridge the fundamental right to an education held by each child attending school in less wealthy districts.
The court goes to great lengths to distinguish the fundamental right to an education from education funding, but there is no meaningful distinction between the two. Nothing in the Education Clause of our constitution suggests that the fundamental right to an education applies only to the education itself, not to the money needed to fund that education. Education does not occur in a vacuum; it is achieved as the result of public expenditures. Any system which provides greater expenditures for some children over others should undergo the most exacting scrutiny.
Because education is a fundamental right, each child has a right to an equal opportunity to be educated. Education is the tool which enables children to prepare themselves for the future. Giving any child an advantage over others because of the wealth of the school district in which he or she lives denies children who do not live in such districts the opportunity to prepare for the future on equal footing. It harms the state generally by creating a disparity in the relative abilities of children educated in our schools. Indeed, this disparity in the opportunity to learn ensures that the disparity in wealth will continue into the future.
Appellants have lost sight of the purpose of our education system. In their briefs and arguments to this court, they repeatedly focus on the funding needs of the school districts, as opposed to educating the child. At oral argument, counsel for the intervenor went so far as to say that children do not have a right to equal educational opportunity. This argument, apparently adopted by the court, ignores the intended beneficiary of our education system: the children who attend our schools. The Education Clause of our constitution makes no reference to school districts. Article XIII, Section 1 states: “The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it is the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools” (emphasis added). I read this language to say that the education of all children is paramount, and that the education system and its funding must provide equal opportunity for all children.
The court repeatedly states that the funding system is constitutional because it provides at least an adequate education for all children. A state’s duty to satisfy a fundamental right is not fulfilled if it provides merely an adequate level to one group of people while providing a more-than-adequate level to another group.
The constitutional mandate for our education system, and by inference for its funding mechanism, is to develop the “intelligence of the people” so that all are prepared to deal with the difficult economic, social, political, and moral issues of the future. Failing that, “the stability of our republican form of government” is placed in jeopardy. If our education system is to be successful in achieving its goal, all children must have an equal opportunity to be educated. The court’s decision today ensures that some of our children will be less prepared than others for the difficult issues of the future.
I dissent.