Appeals court: Detroit students have a right to literacy

Lawsuit claimed schools were in slum-like conditions

(iStock/junial)

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. – A federal appeals court has ruled that students at underperforming Detroit public schools have a constitutional right to literacy.

Thursday’s ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati follows a lower court’s dismissal of a 2016 lawsuit filed against state officials on behalf of some students.

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The appeals court wrote that a basic minimum education should be recognized as a fundamental right. It sent the lawsuit back to the lower court.

The lawsuit claimed schools were in “slum-like conditions” and “functionally incapable of delivering access to literacy.” Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s says it’s reviewing the ruling.