brief in opposition to motion to dismiss - Colorado Attorney General

There is no basis to conclude that the term “thorough and uniform system of free publicschools” is beyond the comprehension of the judiciary. The idea that the Education Clause has asubstantive component is virtually incontestable. Lujan affirms that the phrase refers toeducational “opportunities.” Id. In Fangman, the Supreme Court outlined the dimensions ofthose thorough and uniform opportunities, holding that by virtue of the Education Clause,statutes governing education should not be “narrowly and technically construed” to turn childrenaway from the school house “to grow up in idleness and ignorance,” but should be liberally andbroadly interpreted” to further the purposes of educating children “to that degree that they cancare for themselves and act the part of intelligent citizens.” Fangman, supra, 8 P.2d at 311-312,quoting McNish v. State, 74 Neb. 261, 263, 104 N.W. 186 (1905).In Lujan, the Court cites Pauley v. Kelley, 162 W.Va. 672, 255 S.E.2d 859 (1979) for a“thorough presentation of the education clauses in other states which are similar or identical toColorado’s ‘thorough and uniform’ requirement.” In that case, the West Virginia SupremeCourt, following customary standards of constitutional construction, defined both theconstitutional phrase “thorough and efficient” and identified its basic contents:We may now define a thorough and efficient system of schools: It develops, as best thestate of education expertise allows, the minds, bodies and social morality of its charges toprepare them for useful and happy occupations, recreation and citizenship, and does soeconomically.Legally recognized elements in this definition are development in every child to his orher capacity of (1) literacy; (2) ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers; (3)knowledge of government to the extent that the child will be equipped as a citizen tomake informed choices among persons and issues that affect his own governance; (4)self-knowledge and knowledge of his or her total environment to allow the child tointelligently choose life work -- to know his or her options; (5) work-training andadvanced academic training as the child may intelligently choose; (6) recreationalpursuits; (7) interests in all creative arts, such as music, theatre, literature, and the visualarts; (8) social ethics, both behavioral and abstract, to facilitate compatibility with othersin this society.19