6 - San Antonio, Inequity, and the Human Struggle

Summary

Chapter 6 exposes the Supreme Court’s acceptance of inequality in educational opportunity as a result of its opinion in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez. The chapter begins with a detailed examination of Justice Powell’s majority opinion in Rodriguez, which rejected arguments for protecting education as a fundamental right and applying the language of the Equal Protection Clause to treat impoverished Americans as a discrete group. Against this framework, the chapter juxtaposes Justice Marshall’s comprehensive dissent. Later, the chapter examines Plyler, which prohibits the absolute denial of educational access to a discrete group that is covered by the Equal Protection Clause. In addition, the chapter surveys the widespread and growing inequities in funding across school districts - inequities exacerbated by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. It also recounts a number of decisions at the state level in which advocates convinced state courts to recognize education as a fundamental right under the constitution of their state, and summarizes the most promising legal routes available to advocates for educational equity.