What Whitmer promised group of Detroit school students in literacy settlement

The State  of Michigan has reached a settlement with a group of Detroit Public School students who argued they were denied basic literary skills and won a landmark federal appeals court ruling last month that found a "basic minimum education to be a fundamental right."

As part of the settlement details announced Thursday afternoon, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would:

• Propose legislation before her first term ends that would provide Detroit Public Schools with at least $94.4 million for literacy programs.
• Provide $280,000 to the seven students, some of whom are no longer in school, to participate in what the governor's office called high-quality literacy programs with the funds held for that purpose by the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
• Send an additional $2.7 million to Detroit schools to support literacy efforts.
• Have the state Department of Education advise school districts across the state on how best to access literacy programs to improve reading proficiency and reduce economic, racial and ethnic disparities.

The governor also said two Detroit-based task forces that will include students, parents, teachers and others will study and give her recommendations on how best to improve education in the city, as well as the "stability and quality of the overall educational ecosystem in Detroit."

"Students in Detroit faced obstacles to their education that inhibited their ability to read — obstacles they never should have faced," Whitmer said. "I look forward to working with the Legislature to provide funding for Detroit schools and districts across the state to help ensure educators and students have the resources they need for success.” 

Finding funding for that could be problematic, however, especially since the state's school aid fund could face a $1 billion shortfall this year because of drastically lower tax collections resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans in the state Legislature could also balk at the proposal.

Lawyers and students associated with the lawsuit praised the settlement, however.

“Today, I’m overwhelmed with joy for the opportunities this settlement opens up for students in Detroit," said Jamarria Hall, a 2017 graduate of Osborn High School who was one of the plaintiffs. "Starting this journey four years ago parents and students knew we wanted a better education, and now to really be heard for the first time means everything.” 

Mark Rosenbaum, a lawyer who represented the students, said the settlement "paves the way for the State of Michigan to fulfill its moral obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to children that have been denied a fair shake for far too long."

Rosenbaum is with Public Counsel, a public interest law firm based in California, and runs its Opportunity Under Law effort to fight for economic injustice.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan also praised the settlement, calling it "a real step forward for Detroit children."

Meanwhile, Mark Paige, an associate professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth who has studied the potential impact of the decision made last month by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, said it's likely to continue to reverberate in future education cases.

Ultimately, however, he said it could lead to a split among the federal appellate courts. That could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority, to uphold it it or overturn the precedent.

"For the kids of Detroit, great," he said. "Everyone's got to agree that something bad was going on in there in terms of what they are getting and they deserve more. So they should get something out of this settlement.

"In terms of the longer-term implications, it is yet to be determined and I don't think the outlook is very good for those who think there is a constitutional right to literacy." 

Opponents had been seeking to block appeals court decision

The settlement came just as opponents to the case had moved to try to block the decision handed down by the 6th Circuit last month. 

Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature had asked the court to set aside its ruling  finding that students had a right to fundamental levels of literacy and education, with its lawyers arguing that the court overstepped its bounds by creating a right not described in the U.S. Constitution.

Several others states led by Republican officials had also filed briefs with the 6th Circuit complaining that the April 23 ruling violated the separation of powers between the states and the federal government. 

The settlement by Whitmer, a Democrat, could make those arguments moot for the time if the court accepts the settlement as is expected and the case is dismissed.

Whitmer and the plaintiffs in the case said in a prepared joint statement released at 12:40 a.m. that they were "pleased to announce that we have reached a settlement that will help secure the right of access to literacy for students in Detroit who faced obstacles they never should have faced."

"This landmark court decision recognizes that every child in Michigan deserves an opportunity to obtain an education, which is essential to having a strong foundation in life and a brighter future," the statement said.

More:Appeals court finds constitutional right to literacy for schoolchildren in Detroit case

Lawsuit had been underway for four years

In 2016, the lawsuit was first filed on behalf of a group of students from some of Detroit's lowest-performing public schools claiming that they were being denied foundational levels of literacy. They said that lack of education, in turn, made it impossible for them to adequately exercise other guaranteed rights, such as voting, and denied them equal protection under the law, given that students at other schools in Michigan received the benefits of that education.

Detroit's schools have struggled for years with financial problems as people have left the city and, for years, the state ran the district through a series of emergency financial managers. 

In July 2018, U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy in Detroit dismissed the suit, saying that while "literacy — and the opportunity to obtain it — is of incalculable importance," that did not make it a fundamental right.  

On appeal, the state argued that the case should be dismissed, noting that control of the Detroit Public Schools had been returned to local officials.

But in a 2-1 ruling, the 6th Circuit took the students' side, reversing Murphy's decision and acknowledging it was breaking new ground by taking a step that the U.S. Supreme Court hasn't taken. 

Court's decision said basic literacy is a right under law

In its decision, the panel said the students had failed to prove their arguments that they were due equal levels of education to other students or that the fact they were required to attend school was a factor in claiming such a right. 

"(The) same cannot be said for their central theory: that they have been denied a basic minimum education, and thus have been deprived of access to literacy," the court said, finding that a review of past cases argues for recognizing a "basic minimum education to be a fundamental right."

The court was set to send the case back to U.S. District Court in Detroit for further proceedings prior to the settlement.

"The recognition of a fundamental right is no small matter. This is particularly true when the right in question is something that the state must affirmatively provide. But just as this court should not supplant the state’s policy judgments with its own, neither can we shrink from our obligation to recognize a right when it is foundational to our system of self-governance," the decision said.

The court stopped short of determining exactly what that fundamental level of literacy looks like or how that should be measured. But literacy, it said, has an "ubiquitous presence and evolution through our history (that) has led the American people universally to expect it."

"While plaintiffs still face the burden of proving their factual contentions at trial, under the standards governing a motion to dismiss, this is enough to get them through the courthouse doors," the court wrote.

ontact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.