KolbieHaines

Dr.Capel
EDU502

BRIEFOFAMICICURIAENORTHERNARAPAHOTRIBE&
WYOMINGPARENTTEACHERASSOCIATION
This case was brought to the attention of the courts by the Wyoming parent
teacher association (WPTA). Their goal is to require the state to offer free high quality
preschool. They believe by not including high quality, voluntary preschool in the
basket of educational programs due Wyoming children under the State Constitution, the
state is in violation of the education clauses addressing the type of system to be establish
and maintain complete and uniform system of public instruction.
The WPTA researched childhood development and the benefits of early childhood
education to support their argument and found that, Research in the field of neurological
development indicates that the foundation for early learning and academic achievement is
laid before the age of 5, by which time more than 85% of the brains pathways are
developed. Studies show that children of less well-educated parents, parents who receive
welfare benefits, and single parents are far less likely to be read to and told stories and
have fewer books in their homes than their peers with more affluent, better educated
parents, (4). The WPTA wants to set their children up for success in school as early as
possible in hopes to close the academic gap for students from low socio- economic
classes who can not afford to send their child to preschool.
During their research, they also found that high quality preschool programs can
help level the playing field by Improving childrens cognitive development and giving
them the skills they need to succeed in school and beyond, and economically
disadvantaged three- and four-year olds who received two- and one-half hours of daily
classroom instruction by state certified teachers in the High/Scope Perry Preschool
Program were more than 10% less likely to be placed in special education through age
19, and more than twice as likely to graduate from high school than a similar group of
children who did not participate in the program, (7). I think it is important to have these
programs available to give under-privileged children equal opportunity to education at
any age. The difficult part is the state finding the funding to service them.
By the States failing to fund a high quality preschool program to help level the
playing field and prepare all children for success in school amounts to a violation of the
constitutional requirement for a complete, proper, quality education. For this reason,
amici curiae Northern Arapaho Tribe and Wyoming Parent Teacher Association
requested that this Court reverse the District Courts order granting partial summary
judgment dismissing Challengers claim for State preschool funding and remand the
claim to District Court for a trial on the merits, was the conclusion of the case. (31)

Kolbie Haines
Dr. Capel
EDU 502

BOARDOFEDUCATIONOFTHEBOROUGHOFENGLEWOOD
CLIFFS,BERGENCOUNTYvs.BOARDOFEDUCATIONOFTHE
CITYOFENGLEWOOD,BERGENCOUNTYvs.BOARDOF
EDUCATIONOFTHEBOROUGHOFTENAFLY,BERGENCOUNTY
The New Jersey Commissioner of Education urged the State Board to reject the
Englewood Boards state funding of its Equity and Excellence program on the basis
that the plan failed to yield the racial integration mandated by the New Jersey Supreme
Court. The program has not made significant progress towards ameliorating the racial
balance in the general student body at Dwight Morrow High School (DMHS) or the
district at large, as documented by the periodic assessments prepared by the
Commissioner.
The Equity Plan set forth a strategy based on two components: the Academies at
Englewood magnet school and the program to improve the quality of education and
student achievement in the school system as a whole. This program tracked data on the
effect of the Academies at Englewood program on the racial and ethnic composition of
the student body at DMHS. The data was assessed in semi- annual reports by the state
board of education. Based on the data, Englewood Broad militates against the State
Board granting additional money to the district without conditioning the provision of the
funds on the development of a revised integration plan.
Englewood continued to articulate the goals set forth in the plan for Equity and
Excellence, but the program did not make significant progress towards ameliorating the
racial balance in the general student body at DMHS but what was done also did not make
the situation any worse.
The school worked towards improving their schools diversity but showed little progress.
Englewood has been interoperating the data incorrectly to make it seems as though the
program is improving students diversity enrollment. The case concluded with the request
that the State Board condition the provision of future state funding to Englewood on the
development of a revised integration plan that will be effective in addressing the
persistent racial isolation of the student body at DMHS and in the district at large