Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

The United States Commission on Civil Rights held hearings in San Antonio, Texas from December 9 to 14, 1968 under the authority of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The purpose of the hearing was to collect information regarding the civil rights problems of Mexican Americans in the five Southwestern States. Of concern were the issues of education,…

Reviews court litigation in Texas concerning the rights of children who are illegally residing in the United States to public schooling. Focuses particularly on the issue of whether the equal protection clause in the fourteenth amendment applies to noncitizens. (GC)

Analyzes a 1982 Supreme Court decision in which a Texas statute that authorized local school districts to deny enrollment in public schools to children who were not "legally admitted" to the United States was judged to violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. (MJL)

The Texas statute denying undocumented aliens a free public school education does not pass muster under strict scrutiny and is, therefore, unconstitutional. Available from the Texas International Law Journal, 2500 Red River, Austin, TX 78705; sc $4.00. (Author/IRT)

In "Doe v. Plyler" the court unanimously held that the denial of a free public education to illegal alien children is a violation of the equal protection clause. Examines how the court came to its conclusion. (Author/IRT)

Desegregation issues continue to be the focus of court litigation in public schools. Since the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision, federal courts have consistently upheld that legally compelled racial segregation of students is a denial of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. Since public school principals play a vital…

The court refused to declare differences in per pupil district expenditures unconstitutional. Reformers must now look to the State courts for change in the present system of school finance. (Author/WM)

Contains the full text of the Texas case finding that the current method of funding public education in that State violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. (JF)

Reproduced here are the text of the 1982 Supreme Court decision "Plyler v. Doe" and its companion cases, "In Re Alien Children Litigation." An introductory statement explains that in this opinion the Court struck down a Texas law prohibiting tuition-free education for children of illegal aliens, on the grounds that education…

Issues in public school finance are discussed in this research monograph, with an emphasis on Texas. Chapter 1 provides a national historical overview, examining the changing definition of equality. The second chapter examines equity challenges in the courts, specifically, two major types of constitutional issues: (1) equal protection clauses of…

In this landmark educational finance opinion (presented here in full) the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Texas case was not a proper case in which to examine a State's laws under standards of strict judicial scrutiny. That test, according to the Court, is reserved for cases involving laws that operate to the disadvantage of suspect classes or…

This research effort examines inequalities in educational input resources among school systems in Texas and California in light of the Rodriguez and Serrano court cases. Low-income families in both states were found to be in districts of low per-pupil-Expenditures and inferior educational services primarily because they are located in districts…