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A Delaware Chancery Court judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the state of failing to meet its constitutional obligation to educate disadvantaged students, giving credence to NAACP claims that students in the First State had become “re-segregated” by race and class.

In a 133-page opinion, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster said it appeared that the current system for allocating public school resources was suffering from “deep structural flaws” that favored more privileged students over those who are poor, disabled or learning to speak English as a second language.

“That is particularly true where it appears at the pleading stage that the three categories of disadvantaged students constitute 'discrete and insular minorities,' whose status 'tends seriously to curtail the operation of those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect minorities, and which may call for a correspondingly more searching judicial inquiry,'” he said.

The ruling followed Laster's decision last month to allow similar claims against county officials to proceed toward trial. On Tuesday, Laster said Gov. John Carney, Secretary of Education Susan Bunting and Treasurer Kenneth Simpler would have to defend allegations that the state had breached the education clause of the Delaware Constitution, which guarantees a “general and efficient system of free public schools.”

The Delaware branch of the NAACP and nonprofit group Delawareans for Educational Opportunity sued state- and county-level officials in January, seeking a court order compelling the state to comply with its constitutional duties. The groups, which are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said the state was consistently failing to meet its own metrics for success for disadvantaged students.

The complaint targeted all the officials only in their official capacities, and it did not accuse them of creating the problems that led to the current disparities.

According to the lawsuit, 64 percent of low-income students, 85 percent of English language learners and 86 percent of students with disabilities in grades three through eight did not meet state standards for English language arts in the 2015-2016 school year. During the same period, the groups said, 74 percent of low-income students, 81 percent of English learners and 89 percent of students with disabilities fell below the state's math standards in those grades.

In what Laster called a “striking concession,” the state did not argue that Delaware's public schools were adequately educating disadvantaged children. Instead, attorneys for the state took the “bold position” that the education clause only requires the state to provide a meaningful education that encompasses all Delaware students, while reducing administrative costs and yielding economic efficiencies.

“Under this interpretation, as long as the state established a state-wide program and labeled it 'a system of public schools,' then the state would satisfy the education clause,” Laster said in a withering critique of the state's position.

At the extreme, Laster said, the state could simply “corral” disadvantaged students into warehouses with minimal books and supervision and “tell the students to take turns reading for themselves.”

“Because the state does not think the education clause says anything about the quality of education, even this dystopian hypothetical would satisfy their version of the constitutional standard,” he said. “Indeed, under a strict interpretation of the state's argument, this nightmare scenario would be constitutionally preferable to the current system, because it would be equally general (it would cover all students) and much more efficient (it would generate additional cost savings).”

As it currently stands, however, Laster said Delaware's public schools have become re-segregated by race and class.

In his opinion, Laster said that high-need schools have vastly more students of color than wealthier schools, showing that the “challenges of poverty intersect with dimensions of race.” And while disadvantaged students require more funding and services than their more privileged peers, Laster noted that Delaware's system generally provides more state support to wealthier districts.

Jonathan Starkey, a spokesman for Carney, said the governor was still reviewing the opinion but is committed to providing additional support and resources for schools serving low-income children, English learners and students with special needs.

“The budget that the governor signed on July 1 targeted additional funding to support students and educators in those schools,” Starkey said in a statement. “He remains focused on this issue.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education referred a request for comment to Barry M. Willoughby, a Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor partner who is representing the state defendants. Willoughby did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on the ruling.

The Delaware ACLU did not respond to a request for comment.

The case is captioned Delawareans for Educational Opportunity v. Carney.