Who is responsible for equity?

A recent supreme court decision has me confused. The court recently reversed the opinion of lower courts to indicate that K12 students in Detroit had “no right to literacy“. This seems a strange issue to make it to the court. I guess I agree that no one has a right to literacy as this capability depends on many factors with some of the more important being outside the control of the school. However, in reading some of the background argued in this decision, I am left wondering just what learners do have a right to expect.

The lawsuit took pains to illustrate how Detroit’s schools — run under a state-appointed emergency manager — were a welter of dysfunction: overcrowded classrooms, lack of textbooks and basic materials, unqualified staff, leaking roofs, broken windows, black mold, contaminated drinking water, rodents, no pens, no paper, no toilet paper, and unsafe temperatures that had classes canceled due to 90-degree heat or classrooms so cold students could see their breath.

This just can’t be an equitable situation for these students and who has the responsibility to address such failures of support? Is this ultimately a responsibility of the Department of Education or a failure that is a responsibility of Michigan? It sounds like the circumstances facing educators and learners in third-world counties.