Lau v. Nichols is a 1974 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that a school district's failure to provide language assistance to non-English-speaking students denied them a meaningful education in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Brought on behalf of Chinese-speaking students in the San Francisco school system, the ruling established a basis for bilingual and English-language-learner support programs in public schools across the United States.
Facts
Classification
Policy TypeAccess or Equity Policy 1 Enacted / Adopted Year Sources
1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974)
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law SchoolPage text
The failure of the San Francisco school system to provide English language instruction to approximately 1,800 students of Chinese ancestry who do not speak English, or to provide them with other adequate instructional procedures, denies them a meaningful opportunity to participate in the public educational program and thus violates § 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based 'on the ground of race, color, or national origin,' in 'any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance,' and the implementing regulations of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Opinion, the class suit
This class suit brought by non-English-speaking Chinese students against officials responsible for the operation of the San Francisco Unified School District seeks relief against the unequal educational opportunities, which are alleged to violate, inter alia, the Fourteenth Amendment .
View the Source 2. Lau v. Nichols (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia 'Lau v. Nichols': '414 U.S. 563 (1974)', decided by the US Supreme Court in 1974. (w-bbfill-education6-0927)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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