IDAHO

Constitutional Clause/Language

“The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”  Idaho. Const. art. 9, s. 1

Major Court Decision: Thompson v. Engelking, 537 P.2d 635 (Idaho. 1975).

Result: Financing system upheld

Summary: Idaho Supreme Court held that education is not a fundamental right under its state constitution. The court stated that the legislature was meeting the constitutional mandate of a “uniform system of public schools” so long as every child was being provided a certain minimum and standardized education.

Key Quotes:

“Constitutional article providing that it shall be a duty of legislature to establish and maintain general, uniform and thorough system of public, free schools is a mandate to state through legislature to set up a complete and uniform system of public education for elementary and secondary school systems, but it does not establish education as basic fundamental right and it does not dictate a central state system of equal expenditure per pupil.”  Id. at 641.

“We also find merit in the warning sounded by several courts which have examined the question of local taxation for raising public education revenue, that in holding those schemes unconstitutionally violative of equal protection, similar provisions for the support of other necessary governmental services normally provided by local governmental entities which are customarily financed to a substantial degree by local property taxes might be subjected to the same fate. Those services include local police and fire protection, support of the local judiciary, roads and many others.

‘If local taxation for local expenditures were an unconstitutional method of providing for education then it might be equally impermissible means of providing other necessary services customarily financed largely from local property taxes, including local police and fire protection, public health and hospitals, and public utility facilities of various kinds.” Id. at 647.

“We do not interpret them to say that Art. 9, Sec. 1 grants a fundamental right to education, whereby in keeping with some nebulous conceptualization of equal educational opportunities, the Legislature is obligated to establish a statewide system of financing so that each school district receives sufficient funds so that equal sums are expended per student throughout the state.”  Id. at 650.

“A general and uniform system, we think, is, at the present time, one in which every child in the state has free access to certain minimum and reasonably standardized educational and instructional facilities and opportunities to at least the 12th grade-a system administered with that degree of uniformity which enables a child to transfer from one district to another within the same grade without substantial loss of credit or standing and with access by each student of whatever grade to acquire those skills and training that are reasonably understood to be fundamental and basic to a sound education.”  Id. at 652.