Minnesota needs to reclaim its education heritage

As our legislators face a special session, grappling with education and budget issues, they should take note of their constitutional responsibilities -- and the glaring educational inadequacies in our state.

Here in Minnesota, we like to think of ourselves as a state where all of our children are above average. That is no doubt true in Lake Wobegon -- and in many other localities and school districts in our state. Our public schools serve many students exceptionally well.

But the uncomfortable fact is that for many other Minnesota children, we are not above average in providing an adequate education. We are not even average. Shockingly, our state ranks worse than states in the Deep South in a number of educational markers.

Minnesota has one of the widest achievement gaps of any state in the country between students who are poor and who are wealthy and between students who are white and who are of color.

Our achievement gap for eighth grade math ranks us 49th out of 50 states. Eighty-eight percent of our African-American fourth graders read below grade level, scoring worse than African-American students in Alabama. Only 44 percent of African-American students, 45 percent of Latino students and 41 percent of Native American students graduate from high school in Minnesota.

Minnesota also ranks far below many other states -- with Ds and Fs -- in educational reform policies.

This should signal a call to action for all Minnesotans.

Our Legislature in particular should take heed, for under the Minnesota Constitution, the Legislature has an affirmative duty to ensure an adequate education for our children.

The education clause (Article 13, Section 1) of the Constitution 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. The legislature shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise as will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools throughout the state."

In 1993, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that this constitutional provision is "not simply a grant of power" but "a mandate" on the Legislature. The court noted that the education clause "is the only place in the constitution where the phrase 'it is the duty of the legislature' is used." The court also said that education is a "fundamental right," a phrase with significant constitutional implications.

In that 1993 ruling, Skeen vs. State, the court ended up dismissing a challenge to educational financing in Minnesota. But the court repeatedly stated that, as even the plaintiffs in the case admitted, all Minnesota children were receiving an adequate level of basic education at that time.

That is no longer the case.

And even budget shortfalls cannot excuse a legislative failure to secure this fundamental right for all of Minnesota's children. Just last month, for example, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that -- despite a multi-billion-dollar state budget shortfall -- it was unconstitutional for that state's Legislature to cut funding for disadvantaged schools.

The New Jersey court also ordered the state to increase spending for the disadvantaged schools by $500 million next year. This New Jersey decision was based in part on a constitutional provision that is very similar to Minnesota's. Some of the language, in fact, is identical.

As we face a special session of the Legislature, it is also interesting to look back 40 years, to 1971. That year, the regular session of the Legislature ended in a stalemate on education funding issues. After the session, federal Judge Miles W. Lord ruled that the state's school finance system violated the equal protection guarantee of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Lord ended his opinion by stating that the court would defer further action until after the Legislature acted.

Within weeks, in a special session, the Legislature enacted landmark legislation known as the "Minnesota Miracle," which reduced disparities in education funding by shifting to a greater emphasis on state taxes instead of local property taxes.

We are no longer a "miracle" state. It is time, however, to reclaim this heritage.

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Michael V. Ciresi and Roberta B. Walburn are Minneapolis attorneys and members of the board of the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation for Children.

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