ERIC Number: EJ972490
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jan-18
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0277-4232
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Available Date: N/A
States Dogged by Lawsuits on K-12 Funding
Cavanagh, Sean
Education Week, v31 n17 p1, 23 Jan 2012
Even as they struggle to climb out of deep financial holes, states are facing lawsuits that contend they do not meet their constitutions' requirements to provide sufficient funding to districts and fail to provide resources for disadvantaged schools and student populations. This article reports on legal battles in Texas, Colorado, and elsewhere which challenge whether states are living up to their school funding obligations. One of the more dramatic fights is taking shape in Texas, where four separate lawsuits--brought by an assortment of poor, middle-income, and wealthy districts, along with advocacy groups--have been challenging different aspects of the school finance system. Those cases are playing out in the shadow of deep cuts, more than $5 billion by some estimates, that lawmakers imposed last year on the state's schools--reductions that school officials say have laid bare the flaws in the current system. Although the outcomes of lawsuits in a number of states are not likely to be known for some time, the cases could result in courts' directing legislatures to make fixes to school finance systems, as was the case in Washington state.
Descriptors: Disadvantaged Schools, Elementary Secondary Education, Educational Finance, Court Litigation, State Aid, Financial Needs, Financial Problems, Resource Allocation, Finance Reform, Economic Impact, Legal Problems, Legal Responsibility, Educational Administration
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Colorado; Texas; Washington
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A