Article:
Gershon M. Ratner, A New Legal Duty for Urban Public Schools: Effective Education in Basic Skills, 63 Texas L. Rev. 777 (1985).
 

Abstract:
In “A New Legal Duty for Urban Public Schools,” Professor Ratner proposes that courts impose a legal duty on public schools to educate the vast majority of its students in basic skills regardless of the proportions of poor and minority students. Ratner explains that this legal duty is necessary because urban public schools are failing to provide effective education in basic skills, especially to poor and minority students. According to Ratner, this duty is derived from five legal sources: state constitutional education clauses, fourteenth amendment due process, federal and state equal protection clauses, and common law negligence. He describes how courts could enforce this legal duty whenever voluntary improvement by schools is not forthcoming.