Is having an opportunity to receive an adequate education a civil right in the US?

Hi tim2212,

Thank you for your question.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (ED.gov) 
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html

"The mission of the Office for Civil Rights is to ensure equal access
to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the
nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights.

We serve student populations facing discrimination and the advocates
and institutions promoting systemic solutions to civil rights
problems. An important responsibility is resolving complaints of
discrimination. Agency-initiated cases, typically called compliance
reviews, permit OCR to target resources on compliance problems that
appear particularly acute. OCR also provides technical assistance to
help institutions achieve voluntary compliance with the civil rights
laws that OCR enforces. An important part of OCR's technical
assistance are partnerships designed to develop creative approaches to
preventing and addressing discrimination."

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KIDS TOGETHER, Inc. Rights to Regular Education
http://www.kidstogether.org/right-ed.htm

Civil Right 

"Separate is not equal. If something is offered to all children it
must be accessible to all children. Access should not be denied based
on disability or any characteristic alone. Children with disabilities
have a right to go to the same schools and classes as their friends,
neighbors, brothers and sisters. They have a right to be afforded
equal opportunities."

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keyword search:

U.S. Department of Education
united states civil rights education
u.s. education civil rights adequate education

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Best regards,
tlspiegel

answer had relevence, but could have put some more effort into answer.

If I may supplement my colleagues good answer, may I suggest that the
question should be properly phrased "is an education a FUNDAMENTAL
right?"  This is a Huge question.

The Plyler v. Doe decision in the Supreme Court of the United States
in 1982, in part, stands for the proposition that there is NO
FUNDEMENTAL RIGHT to education, YET the possibility of that right's
existence has not been totally foreclosed by their decision.

There is a fundamental constitutional right under the Substantive Due
Process Clause to have government NOT intervene in one's acquisition
of education. This is a so-called "negative right" which serves to
strike down statutes that interfere with obtaining an education.

In the case of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez
the Court dealt with a case where the plaintiffs were Mexican-American
parents of students from poverty areas. Texas had a property tax based
school funding system and the plaintiffs' alleged that disparities
resulted that created discrimination. Again, the Court ruled that
there was no "Fundamental Right" to receive an education, BUT held
that an education was of "Supreme Importance". Some scholars believe
that in some future case the Court might find, it could find, that
there is a positive fundamental constitutional right to receive that
quantum of education that would provide basic minimal skills so that
children could grow up to have effective speech and informed political
choices. Not reached in Rodriguez since P?s did not argue that kids
were denied minimal skills.

Each state has compulsory education laws, but this is different from
being a fundamental right.

You may want to pursue this question a bit by doing a search on the
term "fundamental right" and "Plyler v. Doe".

As to Civil Right - tlspiegel nailed it on the head - as a "civil
right" you are guaranteed "access" to education.

weisstho-ga

In addition to education in general, if you're dealing with the area
of special education, there are two governing laws. one is the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was just
reauthorized this year. That's the law that, for instance, mandates
the content and procedures surrounding IEPs (Individual Education
Plans). That's not a civil rights law. However, there's another law, a
civil rights law, in which Section 504 specifically addresses
education. (Sorry, don't have my reference materials in front of me,
to give you the cite on the specific law.) As far as special education
goes, IEPs are stronger than 504 plans, but 504s are enforceable and
are within the boundaries of civil rights.