San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973)

In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the financing system for funding public education in Texas that was challenged as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Court's ruling in 1973 established two legal principles. First, Justice Lewis Powell's majority opinion declared that the right to an education was not to be regarded as fundamental under the Constitution. Second, wealth-based classifications, unlike classifications based on race, religion, or ethnicity, were deemed constitutional when rationally related to a legitimate state's interest. Because local school boards in Texas relied on property taxes to supplement state funding, there were disparities between the resources available for education in poor districts compared with wealthier ones. However, the Court held that poor ...