The education of children is a fundamental value of the State of Florida, as the Florida Constitution says. It goes on to state “it is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.”
For years, our Constitution’s vague wording has protected itself and our legislators. However, in 1998 an amendment passed that made adequate provision for an efficient, safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools of “paramount duty” for the state.
It would therefore logically follow that Florida’s performance would better in the post-amendment climate, that our politicians would view the amendment—which passed with a 70 percent approval rating—worthy of immediate attention. Instead, Florida’s educational ratings have dropped dramatically, clearly displaying the disassociation between the Constitution’s words and the legislature’s actions.
Just as the scenario in 1998, it is now left to the citizens to once again challenge the state. The efforts of a group of local mothers and former Florida House Speaker Jon Mills are worthy of commendation.
In the 12 years since the amendment’s passing, per-pupil funding has dropped nearly $1,700, ranking Florida at 41 when compared to the nation. Florida also ranks 50 in total public spending on education when compared to in-state wealth and 30 for average teacher salaries. Clearly, education is not “a paramount duty of the state,” a fact an Orlando-based trio of mothers have noticed and taken arms against.
Alarmed by massive budget cuts within education, Christine Bramuchi, Linda Kobert and Kathleen Oropeza founded FundEducationNow.org, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting Florida’s students. In the few years since its inception, the group has filed a lawsuit that questions the quality of Florida’s educational systems. Driven by the increasingly disturbing ranking of Florida’s public schools, the mothers filed suit against the State of Florida on Dec. 18, 2009, calling for the court system to enforce and support adequate provision of quality education to Florida students.
In direct opposition, the legislature asked Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford to dismiss the suit, claiming lawmakers have the “absolute discretion to implement the details of the education system within constitutional parameters and the courts do not have any role in interpreting how it is doing that.” Nonetheless, Fulford allowed the lawsuit to proceed on the premise that the plaintiffs were providing specific allegations and were justified in challenging the state.
Together, the plaintiffs claim Florida fails to meet almost every provision set by the state Constitution, referencing examples and statistics from the past four years. Their arguments are founded in logic and reinforced by Florida’s Constitution, backing the legislature into their own corner.
The mothers argue that our public schools are no longer safe: the U.S. Department of Justice reports that 8.6 percent of students “reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on campus in 2007,” and 12.5 percent of students reported being in a fight in 2007, making Florida schools less safe than those in all but five other states and the District of Columbia. Furthermore, in 2007-2008, there were 2,819 incidents of weapons on school grounds, 8,600 instances of battery and 30,412 reports of fighting.
They claim Florida does not offer the uniform, high quality education required by law, for the state ranks 47 of 50 in graduation rates. In 2006 alone, Florida was 11.7 percent behind the national average in diploma-earning students.
More troubling is that majority of Florida students are not reading on level; 63 percent of sophomores, 53 percent of freshmen and 46 percent of eighth graders are reading below their intended level. Even in fourth grade where most students are reading at grade level, 26 percent are still not; this is more than one in four students below par.
In the lawsuit, there are over 17 pages of statistics, each more alarming than the next. Obviously, Florida is not fulfilling its duty to provide quality education, much less merely adequate education. In this, the efforts of the plaintiffs are admirable, for they challenge the legislators to abide by their words. Bramuchi, Kobert and Oropeza are stepping beyond the normal role of concerned citizens into that of political activists. They exhibit their philosophy of safe-guarding Florida students in both thought and action.
Florida’s public schools are fighting great disparity, and the local mothers of FundEducationNow.org are there to battle. Hopefully, through their efforts and those of the hundreds of groups backing the initiative, the legislature will be held accountable for failing to uphold the state Constitution, and students can breathe easy knowing their future is in responsible hands.