Module 6 The Courts and Education

The Role of the Courts in Education Policy

supreme court

Federal, state, and local elected officials and the professionals they appoint to administer school systems establish most education policy. However, for the past 100 years, the courts have played a role in allowing or disallowing policies to be enacted, especially when those policies violate groups and individual's rights. In this module, you will learn about the court's mediating role in three landmark cases: Mendez vs. Westminster (1946), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), and Lau v. Nichols (1974).

As you learn the stories of each case, take notes guided by the following questions:

What role did the courts play in changing education policy?
Why was the court's role necessary in each of these cases?

Mendez v. Westminster School District

Most people are familiar with the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the case Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated public schools. However, what is often overlooked is that 8 years earlier, a group of Mexican-American families won a federal case against the state of California where children of Mexican descent were forced to attend "Mexican schools" which were inferior in quality.

Two months after the court's ruling, California's then Governor, Earl Warren, signed a bill ending school segregation in California, making it the first state to officially desegregate its public schools.In the video below, you will learn about the case in more detail.

If you find it more accessible to read about the case, read "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed': Mendez v. Westminster and its Legacy."

Brown v. Board of Education

While the Mendez v. Westminster case was pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs written by Thurgood Marshall. Marshall's participation in the Mendez case helped ensure that it would be a legal building block for Marshall’s successful assault on the “separate but equal” doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education ended de jure, or legal school segregation in the United States.

You can also read a brief overview of the Brown v. Board of Education case (Links to an external site.) here.

Lau v. Nichols

Twenty years after Brown v. Board of Education, another landmark court case dramatically changed the landscape of public education.

Kinney Kinmon Lau and other non-English-speaking Chinese students filed suit against the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to provide all non-English-speaking Chinese students with bilingual compensatory education in the English language. Arguing that SFUSD violated their rights under the 14th Amendment, the students argued that they were denied access to education because they were not given instruction that met their language needs as non-English-speaking students.

Ultimately, in 1974 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Lau. In the video below, you will learn about the significance of the court's decision.

You can also read about the Lau v. Nicols ruling here.