In 1876, Texas State Law provided for separate schools for white and Black students. Students of Mexican descent were considered racially white, but they often faced prejudice due to their ethnicity and were not always treated the same as white students from non-Hispanic “Anglo” backgrounds. After 1920, many Texas school districts began to maintain separate schools for Mexican and Mexican American children. On February 1, 1930, the Del Rio School District asked voters for permission to expand a small separate school that was casually referred to as the “Mexican” or “West End” school. By making this school larger, the district could force any Mexican and Mexican American children attending integrated schools to segregate. On March 21, Jesús Salvatierra, and other parents, sued the school district, claiming their Mexican and Mexican American children were being illegally segregated. The district’s Superintendent claimed this segregation was necessary because more than half of the district’s Mexican and Mexican American students left each fall with their families to engage in farm work elsewhere. He claimed these students could not keep up with their peers after being away for so much time. The Superintendent also suggested students of Mexican descent generally struggled to learn English and needed extra help. He argued a separate school would allow them to have special instruction to meet their unique needs. Salvatierra disagreed. The law only provided for the segregation of white and Black students, so forcing all students of Mexican descent to attend a separate school meant illegally segregating one type of white student from another. On May 15, District Judge Joseph Jones ruled in Salvatierra’s favor. The District appealed the case to the Texas Court of Civil Appeals. The appellate court determined that the Superintendent's claims were reasonable and that state law gave him the power to classify students and assign them to schools based on perceived needs. The judgment for Salvatierra was reversed, and the District won.