10 In issuing our directive to the State we recognize that it has
fiscal governance over the entire State and that in a budgetary
matter the Legislature must consider that any action it takes will
directly or indirectly affect its other commitments.
11 In fact the dissent, though it would affirm the Appellate
Division order, identifies no holding of that court that it considers
the better rule of law than those we have set forth today.
12 See the dissent in Paynter v State of New York decided
today.
13 The first sentence of section 5 of Article XVII, states, “The
legislature may provide for the maintenance and support of
institutions for the detention of persons charged with or convicted
of crime and for systems of probation and parole of persons
convicted of crime.”
14 Article XVII, section 1, states, “The aid, care and support of
the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state
and by such of its subdivisions, and in such manner and by such
means, as the legislature may from time to time determine.”
15 Article XVIII, section 1, states, “Subject to the provisions of
this article, the legislature may provide in such manner, by such
means and upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe
for low rent housing and nursing home accommodations for
persons of low income as defined by law, or for the clearance,
replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of substandard and
insanitary areas, or for both such purposes, and for recreational
and other facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto.”
16 The record supports the conclusion that the State fails to
provide a significant number of children even the opportunity to
learn these rudimentary skills.
17 Defendant Governor Pataki has publicly declared: ”I totally
disagree with the concept that an eighth grade education is
adequate, and it will never be the policy of this state so long as I
am governor of this state” (Shaila K. Dewan, Pataki Attacks June
Ruling that 8th-Grade Education is Enough, NY Times, Sept. 13,
2002, at B6, col. 1.).
18 Thomas Sobol, who served as Commissioner of Education
from 1987 to 1995, testified that a high school diploma is the
“linqua [sic] franca of our society educationally.” Dr. Levin,
educational economist at Columbia University's Teachers College,
testified that it is the “conventional wisdom that [high school]
dropouts are increasingly disadvantaged in the labor market
relative to high school graduates.” The reason for this is “that the
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