San Antonio School District Vs. Rodriquez

San Antonio School District Vs. Rodriquez

Rodriquez was started by parents whose children attended elementary and secondary schools in the Edgewood Indecent School District. About 90% of the students were Mexican American and 6% were African American. In Rodriquez, the Plaintiff's brought a class action on behalf of school children who were members of poor families who reside in school districts having a low property tax base. They claimed that the school's confidence on local property taxation favors the more well off and violates equal protection requirements. The Supreme Court examined the Texas school finance structure and rejected this claim. They ruled that education was not a fundamental right under the Federal Constitution and that students did not have the right to attend schools funded on the same level as a nearby wealthier district.

This case shows the lack of equal educational opportunities for many poor and minority students, which was present in many states. School districts in America involved much of the funding for public schools to come from local property taxes. By doing this it affected the disadvantaged students who attended schools in the area that had low property taxes. This decision essentially placed the responsibility of equitable funding for public schools in the hands of the states, and since that time many states have faced law suits and court decisions based on their "formulas" for funding public schools (Verstegen, 1998).

One pro surrounding this case was how the discrimination of unequal opportunities of education was brought to the table. This meaning that the poorer the people within the neighbor the poorer the school districts will be. Although this case shed some light, it failed under the federal Equal Protection analysis because education was not a "fundamental right" recognized by the Constitution and because the educationally disadvantaged poor did not constitute a "suspect classification." The Court refused to overturn the school finance system on grounds of inequality. Equally notable, this case "virtually abdicated any role for the federal courts in guaranteeing educational rights under the Federal Constitution," leaving future plaintiffs "to state courts and constitutions for the change they seek (www.schoolfunding.com)."