In June, the class of 1998 will graduate from high school. Many of those students will have spent their 12 years of state mandated public education without ever experiencing their right to a constitutionally adequate education. The state has been litigating against them since they were in fifth grade to prevent them from realizing that fundamental right.

The state has succeeded, until now.

On January 31,1998, Governor Shaheen stated to the Concord Chamber of Commerce that, "The Supreme Court ruled that education is a fundamental right. Now, that ruling didn't tell us anything we didn't already know in our hearts as parents."

Unfortunately as the citizens in many of the school districts realized long ago, knowing it "in our hearts" has never been enough for the school children of this state. It is time for bold action. We must not let the state again walk away from its responsibilities to all the state's school children as some state politicians are currently proposing.

We must take advantage of the opportunity that is before us to craft a permanent solution that will not be held hostage by politics, ideology or shoe-string economics. Parents, legislators and citizens must actively participate in the creation of a public education system that ensures that the state cherishes all its children and honors its responsibility to all of them by providing them with a constitutionally adequate, state funded public education.