St Cloud NAACP Prepares to Enforce Minnesota Education Clause

Within a month, the St. Cloud NAACP will be commencing a suit to enforce Minnesota's Constitutional Education Clause on behalf of students with educational disadvantages, the students that Minnesota is leaving behind educationally and in terms of education funding.   This post begins a discussion of the reasons for that suit, the goals of that suit, and how the St. Cloud NAACP intends to assure that those students and those who serve and care for them the most have a voice in the ultimate course of the litigation.

In Sunday's St. Cloud Times, an article by Patrick Henry provides one window into the issues facing Minnesota education and the families and children in St. Cloud in his Open Letter to Legislators calling upon the legislature to fix the education funding deficit.  You can read that article by following the link.    Mr. Henry's excellent article also provides a link to my law review article with the legal background for folks who want a deeper understanding.  It is titled "Minnesota's Education System is Unconstitutional:  Will Someone Bring a Compelling Case?"

On January 20, 2019, the St. Cloud NAACP holds its annual Freedom Fund Banquet to coincide with the national Martin Luther King celebration.  (For tickets, click the link).   I've been invited to give the keynote speech, and that speech will focus on and highlight the St. Cloud NAACP's plans to enforce the constitution.   This litigation is a natural outgrowth of the national and local NAACP's emphasis on education as a critical component of the economic and political freedom of all Americans. 

In education, the national NAACP works to ensure that all disadvantaged students and students of color are on the path to college or a successful career by ensuring access to great teaching, equitable resources, and a challenging curriculum. NAACP is dedicated to eliminating the severe racial inequities that continue to plague our education system. NAACP’s ultimate goal is that every student of color receives a quality public education that prepares him or her to be a contributing member of a democracy. In education, the national NAACP works to ensure that all disadvantaged students and students of color are on the path to college or a successful career by ensuring access to great teaching, equitable resources, and a challenging curriculum. NAACP is dedicated to eliminating the severe racial inequities that continue to plague our education system. NAACP’s ultimate goal is that every student of color receives a quality public education that prepares him or her to be a contributing member of a democracy. 

 You can reach the event information for the Freedom Fund Banquet, which is the principle annual fund raiser for St. Cloud NAACP by clicking here.   In future posts, we'll provide more information on the legal underpinnings of the suit, and describe its objectives.   The proceeds of the banquet will not be going to the litigation.  The litigation is being handled pro bono: without charge.  The proceeds will fund NAACP's continuing direct efforts in the community as before.

The primary goal of the litigation is to fix our education system for the students that Minnesota is leaving behind. Students get left behind, largely, because they come to school with disadvantages, but with great potential.   Some people forget that the purpose of Minnesota's education clause was to provide an education to students with educational disadvantages:  immigrants, non-English speakers, so-called first generation students from families that lacked the education that was needed to compete in the economy of the time.  

When people tell you that educational disadvantages are the fault of the people at home, remind them then, that our education system wasn't crafted, nor was the constitutional clause written, to assure the education of the fortunate.   The goal was to make public education the great equalizing force, to assure that children who didn't get the education they needed at home would have an equal chance to compete in our society, and to participate effectively in our democracy.   In the coming posts, and at the banquet, I'll have an opportunity to discuss this in greater depth.  

One of the things that we'll explore is the way in which we intend to reach out to stakeholders in the community to assure that the impending litigation will truly benefit the persons it is designed to benefit, the students and their families, that Minnesota's educational system is now leaving behind.  NAACP will be reaching out to the organizations in the community who serve and speak for those students, to make them part of this effort.  The goal is to make sure that as the litigation goes forward, it is actually seeking solutions that will make a difference for those children.  To that end, there will be multiple opportunities for the advocates for children to have input into the goals and strategies.  More to come in the next post.