Court Case Summations & Review

Solution Preview

- McInnis v. Shapiro (Illinois, 1969)

This is a suit filed by a number of high school and elementary school students attending school within four school districts of Cook County, Illinois, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated challenging the constitutionality of
[293 F.Supp. 329]
various state statutes dealing with the financing of the public school system.1

In this case a suit was filed by high school and elementary school students that attended school districts sprawled over four different areas in Cook County, Illinois. The impetus for the suit was to challenge the constitutionality of certain state statutes that dealt with financing of the public school system within the state of Illinois. The plaintiffs alleged that said statutes were in violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under the due process clause of the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs were seeking to find a solution to the issue of wide variations in the expenditures provided per student within the school district. The students alleged that the appropriations of funds that were arbitrarily provided to some students but denied to others created a situation wherein some students were given good educations while others were deprived of the same right to a good education. The plaintiffs were alleging that they were a part of the deprived group that were disadvantaged because of the actions of Cook County, Illinois. Therefore, the students sought to correct this perceived injustice and obtain an equitable solution that would provide them with their constitutional right to equal and fair due process under the United States Constitution. In the complaint, defendants were state officials charged ...