The Lived Experiences Behind School Finance Litigation: The People and Context Surrounding San Antonio v. Rodriguez

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Context Matters: The Power of Lived Experiences to Facilitate Change

Abstract

This work is an examination of the social contexts surrounding the San Antonio v. Rodriguez school finance case because it is important to recognize the lived experiences within the Edgewood community that prompted this legal action. Guided by Critical Race Theory, I apply historic methods of oral history and archival analysis. Although court documents state that Rodriguez was a cased “filed by Mexican American parents on behalf of students” in the Edgewood school district, little additional attention is given to these parents in formal policy documents or discussions. In contrast, I argue that understanding the stories and lived experiences of Edgewood families is essential to contextualizing these policy issues within social inequities and in developing socially just policy outcomes.

Author

• Erin Atwood, Texas Christian University