San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

411 U.S. 1 (1973)

by

Darin Rockwell

Facts:  

Texas public elementary and public schools used local property taxes for state aid. Each district produced state aid through an ad valorem tax on property. The revenue provided students with a minimum educational offering in each district. In the San Antonio School District, most families lived in poor areas. Therefore, Rodriguez challenged the Texas funding scheme. Rodriguez sued the school district because he felt that that the Texas method of school financing presented wealth based discrimination and that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause by using property taxes to support educational funds.

Decision:

The district court ruled that the Texas financing scheme was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause because it discriminated on the basis of wealth. Ultimately, the Supreme Court reversed the district court’s decision saying that it was not unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Basis of the Decision:

Texas gave a free education to every child regardless of wealth. The Supreme Court applied the Rational Basis test. It found that the state’s interest was only to provide local participation in education. So there was no violation of the Constitution.