High school exit exam requirements are affecting a growing number of U.S. students--particularly low-income students and students of color. This article examines the policy and legal landscape of exit testing policy to shed light on some of the key issues facing local school leaders charged with implementing these policies. The article first…

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…

The court cases and legal codes cited in this article include: Brown v. Board of Education, 1954; Hobson v. Hansen, 1967; Diana v. State Board of Education (Calif.), 1970; and, California Education Code, 1972. (SF)

In response to the question of what role the courts will play in higher education in the next decade, three broad areas of litigation are discussed: allocation of resources, access to the benefits of higher education, and participation in the making of academic decisions. (JT)

A recent court ruling that the proportion of intercollegiate athletes who are women must equal the proportion of undergraduates who are women is criticized on the grounds that it may compel colleges and universities to distort resource allocations for college athletics and thereby overvalue them. It is argued that such a change would serve no one…

Constitutional implications of the University of Massachusetts' establishment and termination of a legal services office, and a student challenge to its closure, are examined, focusing on the court's decision to disregard forum analysis and instead apply subsidy analysis, which almost predetermined the final holding. (MSE)

This paper details a method for investigating the equity aspects of distributions within school districts of educational resources. To illustrate how to systematically examine in detail the allocation of school resources, the relationship between the distribution of a large number of resources among Philadelphia's public schools and the…

Outlines North Carolina Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning's ruling concerning school funding inequities. Details the ruling's insistence on the submission of progress reports every three months. Proposes that the ruling is too controlling and fails to recommend how to eliminate funding inequities. (PM)

This articles examines litigation which has been generated as a result of fiscal cut-backs at institutions of higher education and looks at the rights and obligations of college and university administrators and students as well as possible future trends. A first section details the effects of budget reductions at California state institutions…

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's concurring opinion in "Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of University of Virginia," in which the Court ruled that the university acted unconstitutionally in denying student activities funds to a Christian newspaper not affiliated with a church, is excerpted here. The opinion maintains that…