NC NAACP Statement Regarding Judge Howard Manning's Ruling on State Budget

For Immediate Release

July 19, 2011

Contact:    Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

                   Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700

                   Atty. Jennifer W. Marsh, Legal Redress Coordinator, 919-682-4700

On June 23, 2011 the NC NAACP joined several organizations in submitting an amicus ("friend of the court") brief in support of the plaintiffs in a suit filed by a group of low-wealth, rural and urban North Carolina counties claiming that the devastating budget cuts to preschool and public schools will undermine North Carolina's constitutional obligations. Judge Howard Manning ruled yesterday that the state budget, with regard to pre-kindergarten education, does in fact undermine the state's constitutional obligations to all children.

In his opinion, Judge Manning wrote, "Simply put, it is the duty of the State of North Carolina to protect each and every one of these at-risk and defenseless children, and to provide them their lawful opportunity, through a quality pre-kindergarten program, to take advantage of their equal opportunity to obtain a sound basic education as guaranteed by the North Carolina constitution."

"Judge Howard Manning's ruling yesterday that the state budget, passed by ultra-conservative extremists in the NC Legislature, violates the constitutional rights of our most precious and vulnerable pre-kindergarten children is a confirmation of what the NC NAACP and other progressive organizations have argued all along: the people running the NC General Assembly are breaking the law," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II. "The frontal attack on public education waged by the current majority in the General Assembly passed an illegal budget in June of this year. Judge Manning's ruling leaves no doubt that the General Assembly's adoption of the draconian budget not only broke the constitutional law but violated a higher moral law that promises all children the right to a sound, basic education no matter what race or socio-economic status they may be."

The NC NAACP's goal remains that every child receives a constitutional, high quality, well-funded, diverse public education. All educational decisions must be guided by the standards of the law with respect to civil rights, the data of sound research, which continually proves that resources and diversity are key components to student achievement, and the lessons of history, which remind us we must go forward and not backwards.

We are proud to have joined these other organizations in signing on to the amicus brief: American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, Advocates for Children's Services of Legal Aid of North Carolina, Disability Rights NC and the NC Justice Center.

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