Who Elected the ACLU?

 Earlier this year, the Miami-Dade County School Board decided to remove a series of books because of a book entitled A Visit to Cuba which they found to be inaccurate and containing several omissions.  In the Boards view, the book portrays life in Cuba inaccurately and downplays the devastating effects that the totalitarian regime under Castro has had upon the people of Cuba.  School Board Member Frank Bolanos summed up the Boards concerns when he said that the book does not teach our children the truth about Cuba.  To address this problem, the Board simply ordered that the books be replaced with a more accurate set of books that are more comprehensive and representative of actual life in Cuba.  This determination by the School Board makes sense.  It also poses no constitutional crisisthat is until the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) got involved. 

 

The local school board is supposed to be the microcosm of the democratic process.  Parents exercise their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children by electing school board members and entrusting them with their childrens education.  When, as here, a public school board makes a decision that it believes will enhance students education, courts should be mindful that, as the Supreme Court of the United States has said, Judicial interposition in the operation of the public school system of the Nation raises problems requiring care and restraint.  In other words, great lengths should be assigned to the educational decision made by the school board in a case such as this.  

 

The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized that the education of the Nations youth is primarily the responsibility of parents, teachers, and state and local school officials, and not of federal judges.  Again, the Supreme Court has said that school boards are given broad discretion in their day-to-day operations because they play a vital role in the preparation of individuals for participation as citizens, and in the preservation of the values on which our society rests. 

 

Despite their claims as civil libertarians, the ACLU actually brought a lawsuit here demanding that the school board maintain in its library a series of books which the board itself had determined to be inaccurate and not worthy of placement in the library.  Unfortunately, a U.S. District Court judge agreed with the ACLU and actually overrode the school boards determination; and the court order required that the books be placed back within the library.  That case is now on appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the American Center for Law & Justice filed a brief in that case today.

 

In our brief, we asserted that the ACLUs position and the district courts decision were incorrect.  The district court failed to give sufficient weight to the well-established principle that public school boards have broad discretion in carrying out their educational functions.  As I said, the day-to-day operations of our nations schools are primarily the responsibility of state and local governments because they are best equipped to prepare students to become informed citizens.  The idea that the ACLU could demand that a book be placed in the library that a school board finds offensive should raise concern with all Americans.   The school boards decision in this case to replace the book series that included A Visit to Cuba with better, more accurate books was based on its determination that four to eight-year-old readers would be given the false impression that life in Cuba is just like life in the United States.  The boards concern was the accuracy of the facts and the need to prepare students to be well-informed citizensnot the suppression of ideas, as the ACLU alleges. 

 

We believe that local school boards, as representatives of the parents and the general public, enjoy broad discretion in matters relating to education.  The school board was elected by the people of Miami-Dade County.  The federal judge in this case was not, nor was the American Civil Liberties Union. 

 

The notion that the ACLU is now a super school board roving the country at will and undermining the will of the people of a given locale is wrong.  The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has an opportunity to restore the proper balance to public education.  After all, these are our kids, and no one has elected the ACLU as a member of the school board.