Constitutional Lessons for the Next Generation of Public Single-Sex Elementary and Secondary Schools

Abstract

Single-sex public elementary and secondary schools are making a comeback. Schools districts are structuring these schools in a variety of ways, including providing a single-sex public school for only one sex in some districts while others are offering similar schools for both sexes. These disparate structures of single-sex schools create distinct potential harms, risks and benefits for students. This Article contends that the constitutional framework applied to single-sex schools should be systematically modified to recognize the different harms, risks and benefits of these structures of single-sex schools in a manner that will create optimal conditions for the creation of single-sex public schools. The proposed modifications address the shortcomings of other scholarly proposals and minimize the current indeterminacy in the constitutional case law that could create unnecessary barriers to the development of single-sex public schools.

Keywords: single-sex schools, equal protection, education, intermediate scrutiny

JEL Classification: I20