Mitt Romney, one of the bevy of candidates running for president, was quoted as saying, "The failure of inner city schools, in my view, is the great civil rights issue of our time." Here is the story.

Well, to all presidential candidates concerned about education as a civil rights issue, I want to be clear. If they truly believe that and if they want to actually do something about it, it is a relatively easy solution. Make Education a Fundamental Right. Until such time as education is a fundamental right, you will continue to see vast disparities in the educations provided to different classes of citizens. I need not remind you that Title VII, which made race, gender, national origin, etc ... protected classes, is the most important legal tool that improved race, gender, national origin relations. This occurred because of the heightened judicial review standard, a compelling interest. Presently, the government need only prove a "rational basis" for funding education differently, for providing different services and opportunities. Move that standard to a "compelling interest" and you will see a dramatic improvement in the equality of education. It is all that simple, but that is the necessary first step.

So, if Mitt Romney and other presidential candidates are serious about education as a civil rights issue, they need to go a step further and support education as a fundamental right. Until then, they are just paying lip service to the disparities that exist in education.