Source: Delaware Online
A judge on Tuesday denied a request by state officials to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Delaware is failing to provide adequate educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster noted that, unlike many other states, Delaware provides no additional financial support for educating low-income students and virtually no additional financial support for educating students who are learning English as a second language. Laster said allegations regarding how the state allocates financial and educational resources, and how disadvantaged students have become re-segregated by race and class, suggest that Delaware’s public education system has “deep structural flaws,” profound enough to support a claim that the state is failing its constitutional mandate to maintain a “general and efficient” school system that serves disadvantaged students.