Honore v. Florida State Bd. of Educ

(Fla. Cir. Ct. Leon County filed Jan. 1999). ; Clearinghouse Number: 52268

Description

Students Seek to Enforce Florida Supreme Court Decision That State Constitution Entitles Public School Children to an Adequate Education

Abstract

Plaintiffs—civil rights, community, and advocacy organizations and 1,400,000 minority schoolchildren from poor communities attending allegedly inadequate public schools in Florida—seek declaratory, injunctive, and supplemental relief against defendant Florida state board of education to enforce the Florida Supreme Court decision Coalition for Adequacy and Fairness in School Funding Inc. v. Chiles, 680 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 1996). Most of the schools attended by plaintiff schoolchildren are schools in which the majority are poor. Plaintiffs claim that each school attended by them fails to teach basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Under the Coalition decision a cause of action exists to enforce article IX, section 1, of the Florida Constitution, which provides that the state’s children are constitutionally entitled to an "adequate" education when the state’s public school system fails to provide for a literate, knowledgeable population. They argue that defendants violated this constitutional guarantee to the extent that they permitted and continue to permit inadequate schools that result in a substantial number of students who do not achieve functional literacy. Plaintiffs also cite state statute for the proposition that basic educational goals require at least the development of functional literacy in reading, mathematics, writing, and other subject matters and a recent voter-adopted mandate, which reinforces and enhances article IX, section 1, to read, in part, that "[i]t is . . . a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders."

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Plaintiffs represented by Marvin E. Barkin, John E. Johnson, Lansing C. Scriven, Trenam, Kemker, Scharf, Barkin, Frye, O’Neill & Mullis P.A., 101 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33602 (813.223.7474); John M. Ratliff, Christina A. Zawisza, Children First Project, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, 3305 College Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314 (954.262.6028); Laura Besvinick, Davis, Weber, and Edwards, 2 S. Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33131 (305.381.7118); Alice K. Nelson, Southern Legal Counsel, 1229 N.W. 12th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32601 (352.955.2144); Peter Roos, Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy Inc., 785 Market St., San Francisco, CA (415.546.6382).
Docket Date
1999-01-01 00:00:00+00:00

Files

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