Courts in the U.S. have a long tradition of protecting the educational rights of students. Although 
education is typically a legislative matter, courts have stood as bulwarks against egregious and 
inequitable policies that harm students.

The most notable example is Brown v. Board of Education (1954), when the Supreme Court struck 
down racial segregation in schools as a violation of constitutional rights. But less famous decisions 
in state courts have played a crucial role in ensuring that all children—regardless of race, ethnicity 
or wealth—have access to the educational opportunities they are guaranteed under state constitutions.

The role of courts is critical because children have no seat at the legislative table. They cannot vote
 or lobby and have no union representing their interests. Their very ability to participate in democracy
 as adults and be successful members of society depends in large part on education.

As the California Supreme Court has described in Serrano v. Priest (1971) and other cases, 
education serves a "distinctive and priceless function," and "unequal education . . . leads to unequal
 job opportunities, disparate income, and handicapped ability to participate in the social, cultural, and
 political activity of our society." Education, the court found in Serrano, is even more important for 
children from less-advantaged backgrounds, serving as "the bright hope for entry of the poor and 
oppressed into the mainstream of American society."

In most education-related constitutional cases, however, state courts have focused on a very limited 
set of concerns—usually, disparities in educational inputs that are obvious and easy to measure, 
like funding and time in school. But the easiest inputs to measure are not necessarily those that 
matter most to student learning. Achieving equality in funding or in the number of school days does 
not always improve education quality.