Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools

Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools is a class-action lawsuit that was filed and resolved in 1964. The lawsuit alleged that Judy Serna and the many other bilingual children of Portales were given an unfair educational disadvantage by a school curriculum designed for students who grew up speaking English. Many of the school’s students were still learning English or primarily spoke Spanish at home. At the time, it was legally required that Portales schools teach in English, and very few bilingual teachers could be found.

The defendants argued that because they had no control over the racial distribution of Portales residents, no discrimination was taking place. They believed that they had developed a “racially neutral” curriculum that provided few disadvantages. However, the courts disagreed, ruling that the total lack of bilingual education was a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They forced the school to provide bilingual teachers and curriculum, which provided better educational opportunities for English-as-a-second-language students. Though the defendants appealed the court’s decision, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the ruling.

Background

Throughout much of the twentieth century, American minorities fought for equal rights under the law. During the 1950s and 1960s, this struggle solidified into the civil rights movement. Though slavery had officially been abolished during the Civil War (1861–1865), Black people were still heavily discriminated against throughout America. They lacked the legal protections offered to White people, and many were denied the right to vote in their government. Sets of special restrictions, often called Jim Crow laws, kept free Black Americans from utilizing their rights. Black people were denied the right to vote, the right to assembly, the freedom to travel, access to education, fair wages, and many other resources granted to White Americans.

During the civil rights movement, several famous Black leaders helped organize a national protest movement. Notable leaders included Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X., Whitney Young, John Lewis, and many others. Their activism led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act prohibited discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. Title VI of the famous act forbade discrimination in any program receiving financial assistance from the federal government. Though the civil rights movement continued for the coming decades, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave American ethnic groups and minorities the tools to fight for equal and equitable treatment within the legal system.

Overview

Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools (1974) was a class-action lawsuit related to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Judy Serna, the lead plaintiff of the case, was a student at Lindsey Elementary School in Portales, New Mexico. At the time the lawsuit was filed, minority group children constituted roughly 50 percent of all public school students. Additionally, in thirty-nine of the state’s public school districts, more than 50 percent of the students had a Latin surname. In Lindsey Elementary School, during the 1971–1972 school year, 86.7 percent of the students had a Latin surname. Despite this, data collected by regulatory bodies showed notably lower academic achievement by minority students in the New Mexico public school system.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that the educational curriculum of all Portales municipal schools was designed primarily to meet the educational needs of middle-class White children. They specifically did not allege that the educational quality of Lindsey Elementary School was lesser than other schools in Portales. Instead, they alleged that all the schools offered a nearly identical curriculum, which was unable to satisfy the needs of a significant portion of the district’s students. Plaintiffs claimed that this disparity was particularly evident at Lindsey Elementary, which featured a higher-than-average percentage of Latin students.

Many of the children in the Portales school district spoke multiple languages at home. A significant portion of the Mexican American children spoke Spanish as a first language and English as a second language. This placed them at a distinct disadvantage when attempting to complete assignments intended for students who learned English as their first language. Additionally, this disparity gave children who learned English as their first language, or who spoke English as the primary language in their home, a competitive advantage on test scores.

The plaintiffs alleged that Latin students were being denied necessary accommodations by the school district. They argued that such treatment qualified as discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Because Portales schools took money from federal programs, they were forbidden from discriminating because of race or country of origin.

The defendants alleged that because the language and racial disparity in Portales had occurred naturally and was influenced by factors outside the schools’ control, the schools had engaged in no type of discrimination. Instead, they argued that the schools had developed a “racially neutral” curriculum, and that the racial and language distributions surrounding the school were not its responsibility. The trial courts disagreed, finding that the Spanish-surnamed children of Portales did not have equal educational opportunities when compared with other students in the district. The courts found that this disparity was a violation of their constitutional right to equal protection. The decision was challenged and upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Following the court’s decision, the State of New Mexico began examining the educational policies that led to the ruling, most notably the state law requiring that classes be taught in English. Additionally, schools were required to take immediate corrective action to remedy the language deficit such as finding ways to allow English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students to better participate in their classes. This involved the recruitment of bilingual teachers to provide daily instruction and a fully bilingual curriculum.

Bibliography

“A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States.” Library of Congress, 2023, guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/serna-v-portales. Accessed 20 June 2023.

“Bilingual Education: Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools.” New Mexico Law Review, 1975, digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1375&context=nmlr. Accessed 20 June 2023.

“Civil Rights Movement.” History.com, 24 May 2023, www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement#woolworth-s-lunch-counter. Accessed 20 June 2023.

“Legal Highlight: The Civil Rights Act of 1964.” U.S. Department of Labor, 2023, www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964. Accessed 20 June 2023.

“Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools, 351 F. Supp. 1279 (D.N.M. 1972).” Justia, 2023, law.justia.co/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/351/1279/2594883/. Accessed 20 June 2023.