50 Years After San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez: New and Old Fights for Equity in Public Schools
As part of our annual Online Symposium, Virginia Law Review (VLR) Online will be publishing pieces and hosting an author panel discussion on the topic of the upcoming Symposium: “50 Years After San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez: New and Old Fights for Equity in Public Schools.” Nearly fifty years ago, the majority of the Supreme Court in Rodriguez rejected the claim that education is a fundamental right and held that Texas’ system of using local property taxes to fund public schools did not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Today, the fight for equity in K-12 public education continues on numerous fronts––some decades-old and some unique to the present moment. With debates about public schooling increasingly becoming a microcosm of larger political and social issues, we are interested in contextualizing these struggles and thinking creatively about ways to forge a more just and equitable system.
Topics explored in Symposium submissions may include, but are certainly not limited to: religion in public schools; the school-to-prison pipeline; funding for public school systems; legislation prohibiting instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, or critical race theory; the role of the federal government in overseeing public education; the lasting impact of Covid-19 on public schooling; etc.
Length: Pieces submitted to VLR Online for the Symposium should be lightly-footnoted and generally between 4,000 and 7,000 words in length. VLR Online will not accept submissions longer than 8,000 words unless the author has requested and been granted an exception from the Online Development Editor, Sydney Stanley (sas5av@virginia.edu), prior to submission.
Format: We only accept electronic submissions to VLR Online. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to valawrev.online@gmail.com in Microsoft Word format. The subject line of the email should read “VLR Online Symposium Submission.” Submissions should be in Times 11 or a larger sized font, should utilize footnotes instead of endnotes, and should have numbered pages. All submissions must include:
- A cover page, which should prominently feature the following information:
- the title of the manuscript
- the author’s name
- the author’s e-mail address
- the author’s daytime telephone number
- a word count for the manuscript (including footnotes).
- A copy of the manuscript
- The author’s most recent resume or C.V.
Deadline: Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Symposium Date: The author panel will be part of a full-day symposium hosted by VLR Online at the University of Virginia School of Law on February 17, 2023.