Opinion of the Justices
Decision Date | 15 May 1978 |
Docket Number | No. 78-102,78-102 |
Citation | 387 A.2d 333,118 N.H. 347 |
Parties | OPINION OF THE JUSTICES. Request of House of Representatives, |
Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
The following resolution was adopted by the house of representatives on April 25, 1978, and filed with the supreme court on April 28, 1978:
The following answer was returned:
To the House of Representatives:
The undersigned justices of the supreme court submit the following reply to the inquiry contained in your resolution dated April 25, 1978, and filed with this court on April 28, 1978.
The proposed statute, entitled "an act excusing a school board from its duty to provide education to residents of military installations," reads as follows:
1 Full Payment Required. Amend RSA 189:1-a (supp) as inserted by 1969, 356:10 as amended by striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following:
189:1-a Duty to Provide Education. It shall be the duty of the school board to provide, at district expense, elementary and secondary education to all pupils under 21 years of age who reside in the district, excluding those students residing on a military installation, unless funds are provided by the federal government for the full cost of their education either by tuition or reimbursement, provided that the board may exclude specific pupils for gross misconduct or for neglect or refusal to conform to the reasonable rules of the school, and further provided that this section shall not apply to pupils who have been exempted from school attendance in accordance with RSA 193:5.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
The Supreme Court of the United States has specifically rejected the notion that federal enclaves are "states within a state." Evans v. Cornman, 398 U.S. 419, 421, 90 S.Ct. 1752, 26 L.Ed.2d 370 (1970); Howard v. Comm'rs of Louisville, 344 U.S. 624, 627, 73 S.Ct. 465, 97 L.Ed. 617 (1953). This fiction cannot be resurrected here to assert that individuals residing on military installations are not residents of the State. Simply that a minor child resides on a federal military installation does not mean that he or she is not a resident of New Hampshire, at least for the purpose of determining whether public education must be provided. We read Evans as requiring that our State treat these minor children as residents of the school district in which the military installation is located.
Because these minor children are residents of the State, they are entitled to the protection of both the Federal and New Hampshire Constitutions. See Opinion of Justices, 115 N.H. 222, 223, 337 A.2d 354, 356 (1975) (.) " Equal protection mandates that those residents who are similarly situated be similarly treated. Id.
The House bill in question attempts "to exclude certain residents from those to whom a school board has a duty to provide an education." In San Antonio School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973), the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to the State of Texas' system of financing public education. The Court held that the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment does not protect any "fundamental right" to education, and that therefore the classification involved in the Texas school financing scheme need only rationally further a legitimate State interest or purpose. San Antonio School Dist. v. Rodriguez id. passim. However, the court in Rodriguez left open the possibility "that an absolute minimum of educational benefits may be demanded of government in order to avoid inequalities in the right to speak or to vote . . . ." Tribe,...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Carson v. Maurer
... ... Opinion of the Justices, 118 N.H. 347, 349-50, 387 A.2d 333, 335 (1978); Angwin v. Manchester, 118 N.H. 336, 337, 386 A.2d 1272, 1273 (1978); see State v ... ...
-
Gazzola v. Clements
... ... To be successful, evidence of convincing force must be presented by the party urging that there is an implied repeal. Id.; Opinion of the Justices, 107 N.H. 325, 221 A.2d 255 (1966) ... In this case the plaintiffs do not sustain their burden of proving clearly ... ...
-
The right to a "minimally adequate education" as guaranteed by the Mississippi Constitution.
...Pub. Sch. Dist., 558 N.W.2d 807 (Neb. 1997) (contending that school disciplinary code violated due process); Opinion of the Justices, 387 A.2d 333 (N.H. 1978) (opining that although there is no fundamental right to education, there might be a federal interest in providing some minimal educa......