Many parents in the Edgewood City School District are worried about the education their children are receiving. Edgewood is a mostly Hispanic, low income district. Because Texas allows districts to fund public education through property taxes, students in Edgewood receive less money for education than the children in the nearby, wealthy, mostly white Alamo Heights Neighborhood.
The parents, led by Mr. Juan Gonzalez, feel that this is fundamentally unfair, racist, and unconstitutional. They hired a team of lawyers to sue the Board of Education, claiming a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which offers equal protection of the laws to US Citizens. The Texas Board of Education, arguing against the parents, claim that if the Alamo Heights District wants to use more of their money for education, that is their right- it is their money after all, and that the case has nothing to do with race.
The parents won their case in the State Supreme Court, and the Texas Board of Education appealed to the United States Supreme Court, where you will have to decide the case.
Issues:
1. Should Public Education be considered a "fundamental" Constitutional interest?
2. Is the State of Texas systematically discriminating against poor people?
Applicable Law:
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution (section 1) states:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Legal Arguments