Plyler v. Doe Takes on New Importance for Schools

Most people know about Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 “separate but equal” landmark ruling that said racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Fewer people are familiar with another landmark education case, Plyler v. Doe — but Jessica Lander, Ed.M.’15, says they should be, especially those who work with students.

“It’s essential history that is vital for every educator to know,” she writes in her new book, Making Americans: Plyler v. Doe and Opening the School Door. In fact, “it is history that all of us living in the United States should study.”

Plyler is the Supreme Court decision from 1982 that affirmed every child's right to a public education in the United States — no matter their immigration status. As the court recognized, “already disadvantaged as a result of poverty, lack of English-speaking ability, and undeniable racial prejudices, these children, without an education, will become permanently locked into the lowest socio-economic class.” 

Lander, who is currently on sabbatical from Lowell High School, where she taught history and civics for nearly nine years, decided to write about Plyler while working as a senior education fellow at the Re-imagining Migration nonprofit. Anti-immigrant rhetoric and ICE raids were starting to ramp up, and schools were often unclear on the law and uncertain what to do to help protect their students and families, Lander says. The nonprofit decided to create a short “rapid response” Massachusetts-specific guide geared toward helping educators, which they eventually adapted for other states. The guide includes an overview of laws, step-by-step actions for revising school policies to better support all students, concrete ideas for supporting families, and lists of local organizations that help immigrants. 

As she was working on the guide, Lander wondered if the book she wrote in 2022, Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education, could be another helpful resource for educators. She went to her publisher, Beacon Press, with an idea: pull out one chapter from the book, the chapter on Plyler, and publish it as a stand-alone book that would give educators and students a deeper dive into the court case and how it applies today. With the help of the National Council of the Teachers of English, Lander added a forward from Gabby Pacheco, a former student who benefited from Plyler and went on to start TheDream.US nonprofit and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and an afterword from U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin. 

Like the rapid response guide she helped create for Re-imagining, the new book also offers additional resources, including recommended readings to better understand Plyler, ideas for classroom activities and discussion topics, and tools for hosting meaningful professional development conversations.

One of the additions to the book that Lander is most happy about is a letter from Lídia Lopez, one of the original plaintiffs in the Plyler case. The book opens with the story of Lídia and her husband Jose packing their Dodge Monaco to the brim the night before the case was set to be heard at the federal courthouse in Tyler, Texas, where, two years earlier, the school board argued that the city was becoming a “haven” for undocumented families. Families that could not prove legal residence, the board successfully voted, would need to pay tuition to the public schools — $1,000 per child, roughly one-fourth of most undocumented Texans’ annual income. The Lopez family was one of four who sued.

After meeting with the Lopez family, Lander felt it was critical not just to tell Lídia’s story, but to also have her voice in the book.

“I just think it's really important that educators hear from her, that her voice is centered,” she says. “The reason they packed their car, Lídia would later tell me, is because they knew and were prepared to be immediately arrested and deported. But that’s a choice, a decision they chose to make to fight for their kids' right to education. And I just find that story so deeply moving and powerful and courageous.”

It's stories like Lídia’s that make the full Plyler story so important to understand now, Lander says.  

“We’re asking kids to focus on learning who are worried that they’re going to come home and their families are going to be deported,” she says. “And so, as an educator, top of mind for me is how can I help colleagues both here in Massachusetts and across the country be better prepared to support and advocate for their kids, for their students? One way was to help them better understand the history.”