State Constitutions

Is your CP constitutionally mandated? Does it seek any kind of protection relating to its existence or scope, or any guarantee relating to its area of interest, under a state constitution?

My CP is constitutionally mandated because education is delegated to the states. States have to establish and maintain public schools. Schools are established under the state constitution and then are given funding by the state to carry out their duties. Then the local governments take over the duties of running the schools. They are allocated money by the state government to run the schools. The existence of the schools is guaranteed by the the state constitutions and are protected under this.

Although schools are guaranteed by the state constitution, it does not guarantee certain programs to exist within the school systems.  This means that programs and classes that are not tested under No Child Left Behind have the tendency to be cut from schools in order to improve test scores and to save money. These programs include music, art, P.E., woodshop, etc. In the case of P.E., these programs have been significantly reduced in size in order to direct funding towards the core subjects like English and math. The students that are EL or are performing at the basic levels in core subjects are usually given two periods of the subject that they are struggling in. This means that these students don't get to take other classes like P.E., fine arts or other subjects. At Valley Oak High School, all of the students have not yet earned their P.E. credits. Some failed because they did not dress out to class or participate while others never got the chance to take P.E. because they were failing their other classes.

Although P.E. has experienced some cuts to its programs, it will continue to exist because the states are interested in the well-being of all of its citizens. The states are responsible for the well-being of the citizens and therefore promote programs to keep their citizens happy. P.E. is important because of the recent interest in preventing childhood obesity. The purpose of P.E. is to teach healthy habits to the students such as leading a healthy lifestyle and being active. In addition, P.E. also incorporates in information that is about healthy eating choices.

This chapter talked about the variety in all of the different state constitutions. Some state constitutions are lengthy and wordy and include and extensive amount of articles addressing a wide variety of things. The largest state constitution has 365,000 words and includes a a vast number of articles. It is interesting that those constitutions that have a large number of articles are related to unimportant things. For example, "A constitutional amendment in Florida prohibits 'cruel and unusual  confinement of pigs during pregnancy" (54). This is an article that does not need to be written into a state constitution. If it is really necessary, it should just be put into effect with a law.