Window on the West
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
Is there a right to an education? Yes, there is.
I haven’t heard a lot of comments about the upcoming Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools bond election, and we haven’t received very many comments on the stories about it. One comment, though, was from a person who attended a public meeting on another topic. He said he didn’t agree that there was a right to an education.
That is the sort of viewpoint that would go back to the 1770s and 1780s, when the U.S. Constitution was written. The federal constitution doesn’t include a right to education. The word “education” isn’t mentioned in the bill of rights. Back then, kids, women and minorities were treated like property, and it was up to the parents whether the kids were sent to school. Parents still have a good deal of authority in today’s society, but there has been a shift in beliefs about a right to an education.
Maybe people in Kansas were a little more enlightened when they wrote their state Constitution, in 1859 in what is now downtown Kansas City, Kan.
There is a reference to education in the Kansas Constitution. It says, “Schools and related institutions and activities. The legislature shall provide for intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement by establishing and maintaining public schools, educational institutions and related activities which may be organized and changed in such manner as may be provided by law.”
My guess is that perhaps Clarina Nichols, who advocated for women’s right to vote in school elections and anti-slavery provisions, might have had something to do with getting these other provisions about education and women’s property rights into the Kansas Constitution.
My opinion is that there is more than just a right to an education. There is a duty that our community and society owes to provide an education to children. It’s in our society’s best interests, also, to educate the next generation in order to develop fully informed citizens, who are able to continue the many roles needed in society, some requiring advanced degrees, and perhaps even move society forward in scientific, technological and artistic advances.
The question the courts are considering, of whether the state’s education funding is adequate, should not even have to be asked. The funding should be much more than adequate. Like the early citizens of the nation, I still support parents being able to choose what sort of education their children should receive, be it public school, charter school, private school or home school, but there should be funding provided to public schools that is not just adequate, but excellent.
The writers of the Kansas Constitution, being strong supporters of the separation of church and state, also added this directive: “No religious sect or sects shall control any part of the public educational funds.”
While I certainly understand the arguments of parents who think there should be vouchers allowed to educate children in private schools with public money, I don’t agree with it. My fear is more that the government would reach into the private schools to dictate what is taught there, and that the public funds would have strings attached to them. The private schools are necessary to our society, especially if public schools are one day taken over by political or religious ideologues.
Kansas also has a history of political interests getting hold of educational institutions to dictate what is taught, instead of allowing academic freedom. That is what happened when the Populists took control of a state university in the late 1800s in Kansas. I’m not commenting on their beliefs, but just noting that it could happen again because it happened before.
However, there just isn’t any higher use of tax dollars than to provide a quality education to students. For that reason, I support passage of the school bond on the ballot Nov. 8. The community has a duty to see that its students are educated well. We need to enhance our education spending. The students are the future of the community and the world, and whatever funding that is invested in them is worth it.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].