## Facts

- Florida enacted the Educational Accountability Act of 1976 and implemented the State Student Assessment Test, Part II (SSAT-II), a basic-skills competency exam.
- Florida conditioned receipt of a public high-school diploma on passing the SSAT-II.
- SSAT-II results showed a disproportionate failure rate among Black students.
- A class of Florida public-school students challenged the use of SSAT-II as a diploma sanction under the Fourteenth Amendment (due process and equal protection), Title VI, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, alleging inadequate notice, racial discrimination, and that the test measured material not taught.
- The district court found the test content facially valid and permissible for remediation, but enjoined use of SSAT-II to deny diplomas until the 1982–1983 school year due to inadequate notice and concern that immediate enforcement would perpetuate past discrimination.
- Both sides appealed to the Fifth Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether students who satisfied traditional attendance and course-completion requirements possessed a protected property interest in a high-school diploma.
2. Whether procedural due process permits a state to deny diplomas based on a competency exam without proof the exam tests skills actually taught through the curriculum.
3. Whether disparate racial impact, in light of Florida’s history of segregation, required limits on diploma sanctions under Equal Protection, Title VI, and the EEOA.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded for further factual findings.
- The court held that Florida could not constitutionally deny diplomas based on the SSAT-II unless the state proved the test’s curricular (instructional) validity.
- The court accepted that a diploma has substantial value and that state law and practice can create a property interest in receiving it upon completion of established requirements.
- The court agreed that the test items were not shown to be racially biased in content, but treated the disparate impact and segregation history as relevant to whether enforcing diploma sanctions would perpetuate discrimination.
- The court did not bar competency testing or dictate curriculum; it required an evidentiary showing that the tested skills were actually taught and that students had a fair opportunity to learn them.

## Legal Principles

- A state-created entitlement to a public high-school diploma can constitute a Fourteenth Amendment property interest when state rules and practice establish a legitimate expectation of award upon meeting attendance and course requirements.
- When a state conditions graduation on a high-stakes exam affecting that property interest, due process requires more than notice; the state must show the exam is curricularly valid, meaning it measures skills taught through the curriculum and that students had an adequate opportunity to learn them.
- A state retains authority to set graduation standards and use competency testing, but it must apply diploma sanctions through procedures that are fundamentally fair and supported by a record demonstrating instructional alignment.
- Disparate racial outcomes and a history of de jure segregation are relevant to assessing whether enforcement of diploma sanctions risks perpetuating prior discrimination and to the scope of appropriate remedial findings on remand.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit required Florida to prove the SSAT-II tested skills actually taught before denying diplomas based on exam failure, vacated the existing judgment, and remanded for detailed findings on instructional validity and the relationship between racial disparities and the effects of prior segregation.


Debra P. v. Turlington, 644 F.2d 397 (5th Cir. 1981)