A three-judge panel on U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit will today hear arguments in a high-profile case that alleges Detroit students were denied access to literacy due to substandard school conditions.
The Detroit News reports:
the [seven student plaintiffs] allege a lack of books, classrooms without teachers, deplorable building conditions and extreme temperatures deprived them of their right to access literacy in their public schools and should be remedied by the court.
The class-action lawsuit, which is seen as an unprecedented attempt to establish that literacy is a U.S. constitutional right under the 14th Amendment, is being closely watched by education, legal and civil rights experts with some saying it could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal experts are split on the case's ability to ultimately set a new precedent that could change the way states are required to deliver education in America. The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly guarantee the right to education, and the nation’s highest court so far has not weighed in.
