Coalition for Advocacy v. Chiles

680 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 1996)

SLC represented intervenors of 38 low-income and minority school children and four prominent civil rights groups - NAACP, Spanish American League Against Discrimination, League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Haitian Refugee Center. The suit was brought by 43 school boards against the Legislature and state education agencies. The central claim was that children have the fundamental right to be "adequately provided with a uniform education" under the state constitution's education clause. As intervenors, we focused on the need for the State to meet the needs of low-income children, who are primarily children of color. We sought trained and experienced teachers, facilities and materials, staff-to-student ratios, challenging and vigorous curricula and access to early childhood programs at their high-poverty schools, at least at the level of schools that are not high poverty. The case was decided by the Florida Supreme Court in favor of the State on separation of powers grounds, but dissents and concurrence pointed the way to framing justiciable legal action.