Woonsocket School Committee v. The Honorable Lincoln Chafee in his official capacity as the Governor of the State of Rhode Island

OPINION

Chief Justice SUTTELL, for the Court.

Few responsibilities of government are as important as providing for the education of children; few issues are as passionately debated by citizens as the appropriate way to meet that responsibility. This case concerns the parameters of the General Assembly’s duty to promote public education, which is set forth in the Education Clause, article 12, section 1 of the Rhode Island Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs challenge the legislatively enacted school funding formula, which, they allege, fails to allocate adequate resources to less affluent…