From Segregation to School Finance

Jeanne M. Powers

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Multilingual Education and Policy Legal Issues in Education Critical Race Theory in Education

Abstract

I this chapter, I review the legal trajectory of language rights in public schooling in the United States and how language has been intertwined with other policy issues in court cases aimed at expanding access and equity for minority students: desegregation and school finance. Most of these cases originated in the Southwestern United States where there were and continue to be critical masses of Latino students— largely Spanish speakers of Mexican descent—attending public schools. As an organizing frame for the chapter, I expand Ruiz’s (1984) framework for analyzing orientations1 in language policy. My goal is to document and analyze the assumptions in legal arguments marshaled in these cases about how English language learners (ELLs) attending public schools should learn and be taught English and how students’ home languages fit into those processes.2 I focus on the legal opinions issued by federal and state courts because although courts do not create policy, they play an important role in the policymaking process (Bosworth, 2001; Horowitz, 1977). Courts can reject a policy by declaring it unconstitutional and set the parameters for policymaking by legislatures. Likewise, when courts rebuff plaintiffs’ claims, they uphold and often reinforce the status quo. Moreover, as critical race theorists have observed, legal decisions play an important cultural role in legitimizing and institutionalizing racial inequality. Language, like race, has been an important marker of social status and is a significant aspect of individuals’ social identities (Lippi-Green, 2011; Perea, 1992). Language is also a key medium for participation in social settings (Rodriguez, 2006). Language and race are not interchangeable, but the legal framework for language rights in the United States was an extension of civil rights era policies aimed at addressing racial discrimination

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References

1984Orientations in Language Planning 1927North Carolina Law Review 1999English with an accent: Language ideology and discrimination in the United States. By Rosina Lippi-Green. London & New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp. xviii, 286.2006Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth.2017Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners 2010Dismantling Contemporary Deficit Thinking 2012Handbook of Education Policy Research 2004Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues

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2015ESOL Teachers as Advocates: An Important Role?2019Educators’ construction of mainstreaming policy for English learners: a decision-making theory perspective 2021English learner education and teacher preparation in the U.S.: an interpretive language education policy analysis 2020Se Acabaron Las Palabras: A Post-Mortem Flores v. Arizona Disproportional Funding Analysis of Targeted English Learner Expenditures 2024Beyond a Transformative Approach and Deep Understanding: External Factors and Mid-Level Leaders’ Policy Implementation to Expand Equity for English Learners

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