Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
Mass. 545, 615 N.E.2d 516 (1993); Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby, 804 S.W.2d 491 (Tex. 1991).
This reluctance to discuss the matter, no doubt, is due in large part to the difficulty surrounding this issue. The Arizona Supreme Court commented directly on the confusion involved in the fundamental-right question. It noted that in one of its earlier decisions in 1973, it proclaimed that education was a fundamental right, but in the same opinion, upheld the existing school financing scheme, using the rational basis test rather than examining the system under strict scrutiny. See Roosevelt Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 66 v. Bishop, 179 Ariz. 233, 877 P.2d 806 (1994) (questioning Shofstall v. Hollins, 110 Ariz. 88, 515 P.2d 590 (1973)). The Arizona Supreme Court determined, however, that it need not resolve this "conundrum," because the Arizona Constitution placed a specific duty and responsibility on the Legislature to establish and maintain the public school system. Id. The issue was whether the present financing system satisfied the constitutional mandate of a general and uniform school system and not what standard should be applied in judicial review.
The Tennessee Supreme Court found its state school-funding system unconstitutional under the equal protection provisions of its constitution and, thus, refrained from deciding whether an adequate education was a fundamental right under its Education Article. See Tennessee Small Sch. Sys. v. McWherter, 851 S.W.2d 139 (Tenn. 1993). Similarly, the Vermont Supreme Court held that an adequate education was essential under its state constitution, but it did not proclaim it to be a fundamental right. See Brigham v. State, 166 Vt. 246, 692 A.2d 384 (1997). The court proceeded, however, to hold that its system "violate[d] the right to equal educational opportunities" under both its Education Article and equal protection clause, and that there was no rational basis for the gross inequities in the educational opportunities offered to school children in different school districts in that state. Id. at 268, 692 A.2d at 397.
On the other hand, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has held that an adequate education is a fundamental right in that state:
