Messaging Voluntary Race-Conscious Policies as Government Speech in the Age of Parents Involved

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable 22
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Policy

Abstract

Nuanced review of United States Supreme Court jurisprudence reveals that the Court views race-conscious measures as a form of prohibited government speech. Given this view, it is essential to examine the role of the government speech doctrine in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 – the governing precedent on the constitutionality of race-conscious student assignment policies. The government doctrine analysis reveals that Parents Involved targeted districts’ racial messages (a form of government speech) rather than race-conscious policies. Thus, districts designing race-conscious policies need to pay attention to messaging in promoting equal educational opportunity, access and sustained desegregated education.

Author

• Joseph Oluwole, Montclair State University