From a legal perspective in the U.S., education is a state function. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is education mentioned, which means, according to the reserved powers clause in the Tenth Amendment, education is a state function. This was underscored in San Antonio v. Rodriguez 411 U.S. 1 (1973) when the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal constitution did not protect students in poor school districts from the state’s uneven distribution of resources since education was not a federal constitutional right.
What if the state doesn’t live up to that responsibility?
Individuals and advocacy groups have the right to question the state’s fulfillment of this responsibility in court, and many have.
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