Florida’s Constitution-high quality system of free public schools

Florida’s Constitution at this LINK

Article IX
SECTION 1. Public education.—
(a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require. To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that …..

Quote from November 2018 news article at this LINK :

The Florida Supreme Court  heard arguments in a case that maintains the state is failing to provide a “high quality” public education to all students, as demanded in the state constitution.  …..  The case centers on an amendment to the state constitution added by Florida voters in 1998. That section calls education a “paramount duty” of the state and requires a “high quality system of uniform free public schools.” At issue is whether that clause provides a measurable standard by which courts could judge educational success.

How does one define high quality system of uniform free public schools?

This REPORT seems to have some great ideas.  Here is an excerpt from the report:

This includes teaching novices how to support the development of these skills, attitudes, and habits in their students and how to develop them in themselves—including stress management, the ability to be calm and mindful in the face of stress, and how to be self-aware and able to problem solve, collaborate, and marshal resilience.

To support the use of research and to further refine the evidence base across diverse contexts requires new ways of working for both researchers and practitioners. Achieving this paradigm shift will require the support of funders, including the federal government; research universities, working with school districts and community programs; and the broader research and education community.

A focus on refining the evidence base also requires a commitment from schools and youth development organizations to use data and evidence to maintain strategic partnerships and to learn from each other. One feature of strong school-community collaborations is their ability to partner to share data that can be used to measure and strengthen student performance and to better understand how to support improved learning environments that develop the whole child.

Are schools in poorer neighborhoods equal to public schools in richer neighborhoods? If not, what is the solution?

Quote from article at this LINK

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. …   Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs…are deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

I want to watch this case. I hope they win. A few quotes from article at this LINK

A class-action lawsuit, which is being filed in federal court in Rhode Island Wednesday evening and was provided in advance to The Atlantic, argues that baked into the Constitution is an implicit guarantee of high-quality education—in fact, that the constitutional system could not function were this not the case.