Court Cases Education

AUSTIN, TX – Today, Travis County District Court Judge John K. Dietz issued his final judgment, declaring the current Texas school finance system inadequate, unsuitable, and inequitable for Texas school children under Article VII, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution, and in violation of the prohibition on a state ad valorem tax under Article VIII, Section 1-e. “Rather than attempt to solve the problem, the State has buried its head in the sand, making no effort to determine the cost of providing all students with a meaningful opportunity to acquire the essential knowledge and skills reflected in the state curriculum and to graduate at a college- and career-ready level,” Judge Dietz stated in his scathing rebuke of the school system. This long-anticipated ruling follows a three-week hearing earlier this year after Judge Dietz reopened the evidence in the wake of statutory changes made to the public education system during the 2013 Legislative session. On February 4, 2013, he issued a similar ruling from the bench following a three-month trial.

SACRAMENTO, CA – A group of civil rights advocates including California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., Equal Justice Society, Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, Inc., and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) today filed an administrative complaint with the California Department of Education (“State”) demanding that it directly intervene and investigate the illegal school funding allocations of over 6 million dollars by the Kern High School District (“Kern District”) and Kern County Office of Education (“Kern County”).

AUSTIN, TX – Today, in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the University of Texas at Austin’s holistic admissions plan, affirming the university’s ability to consider the race of an applicant as one of many factors in its admissions decisions. The U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case to the Fifth Circuit in June 2013, after it held that the Fifth Circuit had not applied the correct standard in judging the University of Texas admissions program. On remand, the Fifth Circuit received briefing from the parties, as well as from MALDEF, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of twenty state and national Latino organizations urging the court to affirm the constitutionality of UT-Austin’s plan as a complement to the Top Ten Percent Plan.

SANTA FE, NM – Today, MALDEF filed an amended complaint in Martinez v. State of New Mexico, adding claims seeking equal educational opportunity for students with disabilities in the state. The suit is an expansion of the comprehensive case filed in April seeking to compel New Mexico to provide a sufficient education to ELL and at-risk students, as mandated by the state’s constitution. The suit is the first ever challenge of the state’s provision of education to at-risk students, and now the first to seek injunctive relief under the New Mexico Constitution for students with disabilities.

COLUMBIA, SC – Today, MALDEF filed Rocha Herrera v. Finan in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina Spartanburg Division, against the board members of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, asserting that they violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Commission promulgated a rule in 2009, creating a new “non-resident alien” category and denying a U.S. citizen resident of the State the rights of other South Carolina residents based on her parents’ immigration status. The plaintiff, Angelica Rocha Herrera, a Texas-born U.S. citizen and South Carolina resident, was denied financial aid and in-state tuition because of the Commission’s new rule.

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Today, MALDEF and the Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy, Inc. (META), filed federal court papers on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), seeking to require that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and two individual school districts, the Southwest and North East Independent School Districts in San Antonio, effectively monitor, implement, enforce and supervise programs for ELLs.

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO – In the first case of its kind filed in the State, MALDEF today filed a lawsuit, Louise Martinez v State of New Mexico, seeking to establish education as a fundamental right and to ensure that New Mexico’s at-risk children are provided a sufficient education as required under the New Mexico Constitution. The suit, separate from one filed weeks ago that centered on funding, was brought on behalf of several frustrated parents and public school children from around the state, including Española, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Zuni, Magdalena, Las Cruces and Gadsden.

AUSTIN, TX – Today at 2 pm CST, MALDEF will present closing argument before the Travis County District Court in Austin, showing that the Texas public school finance system remains inequitable and inadequate. Last year, Travis County District Court Judge John K. Dietz held that the system was arbitrary, inequitable and inadequate under the Texas Constitution, citing gross inequities for property-poor school districts and failures of the system for low income and English Language Learner (ELL) children.

AUSTIN, TX – On Tuesday, January 21, 2014, MALDEF will return to court to demonstrate that the Texas public school finance system remains inequitable and inadequate. In a MALDEF victory for Texas children early last year, Travis County District Court Judge John K. Dietz held that the system was arbitrary, inequitable and inadequate under the Texas Constitution, detailing gross inequities for property-poor school districts and failures of the system for low income and English Language Learner (ELL) children. Last June, before issuing his final judgment, Judge Dietz decided to reopen the evidence and hold a supplementary hearing to examine the effect of legislative changes to the state’s educational system that were made after his initial ruling.

Illinois School District U-46 Discriminated Against Latino Students in Gifted Program

ELL and low-income students will remain hostage to an arbitrary and irrational funding system for Colorado schools