In the United States, the right to education resides in the states. Every state constitution affirmatively requires state legislatures to maintain and support a system of elementary and secondary schools open to all resident children. Although the language of these constitutional provisions varies, in all cases they mandate states, through their elected officials, to guarantee all children access to a free public education. The states, and not the federal government, are constitutionally obligated to provide education to the nation's school children. In striking down state laws that compelled racially segregated schools, the United States Supreme Court in its 1955 "Brown v. Board of Education II" ruling made clear that the opportunity for an education provided by the states "is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Yet consensus on a working definition of the "right" to "equal educational opportunity" and what is essential to deliver it has been elusive. Lacking a common understanding, civil and education rights advocates often fragment into separate camps: those pushing for equity in segregated schools and those calling for school desegregation as the only feasible road to equal opportunity. This brief proposes a way to move past the dichotomy of equity or diversity as the path to equal educational opportunity.