San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez is a 1973 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that education is not a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution and that disparities in school funding arising from reliance on local property taxes do not violate the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling left school funding equity to be pursued largely through state courts and state constitutions rather than federal litigation, shaping decades of subsequent school finance reform efforts at the state level.
Facts
Classification
Policy TypeFunding or Finance Policy 1 Education LevelPrimary Education (ISCED 1) 1 Education LevelLower Secondary Education (ISCED 2) 1 Education LevelUpper Secondary Education (ISCED 3) 1 Enacted / Adopted Year FAQs
Did Rodriguez make education a fundamental right under the US Constitution?
No. The Court held education is not a fundamental right under the federal Constitution.
No. The Court wrote that education is not among the rights afforded explicit protection under the federal Constitution and found no basis for saying it is implicitly protected. It therefore declined to apply strict scrutiny to the Texas school finance system, which combined state aid with local property taxes, and held that the system did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Sources
1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law SchoolPage text
Appellees brought this class action on behalf of schoolchildren said to be members of poor families who reside in school districts having a low property tax base, making the claim that the Texas system's reliance on local property taxation favors the more affluent and violates equal protection requirements because of substantial interdistrict disparities in per-pupil expenditures resulting primarily from differences in the value of assessable property among the districts.
Syllabus, claim of the appellees
Appellees brought this class action on behalf of schoolchildren said to be members of poor families who reside in school districts having a low property tax base, making the claim that the Texas system's reliance on local property taxation favors the more affluent and violates equal protection requirements because of substantial interdistrict disparities in per-pupil expenditures resulting primarily from differences in the value of assessable property among the districts.
Syllabus
The financing of public elementary and secondary schools in Texas is a product of state and local participation.
View the Source 2. San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia 'San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez': '411 U.S. 1 (1973)', decided in 1973. (w-bbfill-education6-0927)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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