It takes about 15 minutes to drive from Edgewood to Alamo Heights in San Antonio, Texas. Yet the schools in each neighborhood are worlds apart. The student body at Alamo is roughly 52 percent white and 40 percent Hispanic. Only about 20 percent of students are classified as economically disadvantaged. At Edgewood, less than 1 percent of students are white and 97 percent are Hispanic. Nearly 95 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Over 50 years ago, similar school disparities promoted parents in Edgewood to file a court case seeking equality in educational financing. The case would work its way up to the Supreme Court in what is known as San Antonia Independent School District v. Rodriguez.

Considered one of the worst Supreme Court rulings since 1960, Rodriquez has withstood various challenges over the years. My guests today, Mark Paige and Bruce Meredith, argue it’s time to find new paths to create educational equality.

Mark Paige is a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Bruce Meredith is the former General Counsel to the National Education Association Wisconsin Affiliate. Their article “Reversing Rodriquez: A siren call to a dangerous shoal” will be published in the University of Houston Law Review later this year.

https://www.freshedpodcast.com/markpaige-brucemeredith

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