Equal Protection Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: St. Joan Antida High School Inc., v. Milwaukee Public School District

Case No.: 18-1673

Officials: SYKES, BARRETT, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Equal Protection Violation

There have been several constitutional challenges to school busing in Wisconsin over the years. See, e.g., St. Augustine Sch. v. Evers, 906 F.3d 591 (7th Cir. 2018); Racine Charter One, Inc. v. Racine Unified Sch. Dist., 424 F.3d 677 (7th Cir. 2005). This is another. Our focus here is on the Milwaukee Public School District (“MPS”), private schools, and the Equal Protection Clause.

MPS offers free transportation to public‐school students who attend certain schools outside of their neighborhoods. All other students—including private‐school students—are only eligible if they live farther than one mile from the nearest public‐transportation stop. MPS also requires private schools to submit a roster of students who need transportation by July 1; it has no such requirement for its public schools. St. Joan Antida High School, a private school, filed this lawsuit, claiming that these restrictions violate the Equal Protection Clause. This is especially so, St. Joan submits, because state law requires MPS to transport students with “reasonable uniformity,” whether they attend public or private schools

The district court granted summary judgment to MPS, and St. Joan appeals. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part. Rational bases exist for the differences in busing eligibility, and so we affirm on that ground. But more work needs to be done to resolve St. Joan’s challenge to the July 1 deadline, and so we reverse and remand on that ground.

Affirmed in part. Reversed and remanded in part.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.