Many recent critical reforms in state school finance systems have been catalyzed by the courthouse, not the statehouse. Advocates for equity-focused school finance reforms often consider legal action as the best path to significant policy changes. This brief discusses state-level lawsuits on adequacy and equity grounds and their outcomes.

"Power, Constraint, and Policy Change" analyzes state court influence on state education finance reform. Beginning in the early 1970s litigants began filing suits in state courts to change state education funding in order to prevent disparities in education resources between wealthy and poor communities. These cases represent a…

Presently, charter schools exist in 43 states. The Minnesota Legislature first created charter schools in the United States in 1991. As of 2018, there were nearly 7,000 charter schools in 43 states serving over approximately 3 million students. The creation, control, and mission of these schools varies from state to state. This analysis examines…

This policy memo examines some fundamental shifts, along with their real-world implications, within the past 60 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence, up to and including the current "Carson v. Makin" case. The Supreme Court is just a few small steps away from transforming every charter school law in the U.S. into a private-school voucher…

Beginning in 2018, the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, comprised of 13 members inside and outside of the legislature, will begin the task of studying and making recommendations to improve the school finance system. This five-part series prepares readers to engage with lawmakers and the school finance commission by providing background…

Beginning in 2018, the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, comprised of 13 members inside and outside of the legislature, will begin the task of studying and making recommendations to improve the school finance system. This five-part series prepares readers to engage with lawmakers and the school finance commission by providing background…

Ten years have passed since New York's highest court ruled in the landmark school-funding and educational-rights case, "Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) v. State of New York," that the state was violating students' constitutional right to the "opportunity for a sound basic education" and ordered significant reforms of the…

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…

Beginning in the early 1970s, plaintiffs initiated a veritable tidal wave of litigation over financing public education in states with unequal funding for students in poor school systems. In the only case on school finance to reach the United States Supreme Court, "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez" (1973), the…

Equity issues in public school finance have been discussed in terms of three waves. The first wave was a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court to provide equal education to all students as a fundamental right. After a ruling against the plaintiffs in "San Antonio v Rodriguez" (1973), the fight shifted to a second wave in the state courts.…

Prior to the United States Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954), educational finance litigation focused almost entirely on the equitable distribution of state educational financing, ending preferential disbursement of state funds. This ended in 1973, with the United States Supreme Court's decision in "San…

Over the past thirty-five years, federal courts have dramatically retreated from actively promoting school desegregation. In the meantime, state courts have taken up the mantle of promoting the vision of educational equity originally articulated in "Brown v. Board of Education". "Courts and Kids" is the first detailed analysis…

Since the late 1980s, state court judges in over twenty states, deriving their authority from the education clauses of their respective state constitutions, have struck down school finance systems as not "adequate." Pointing to evidence of unacceptable student achievement outcomes, especially among poor and disadvantaged students,…

This report examines the problem of school facility disparities in Michigan and the prospects of litigation to address this problem. First, the authors briefly review evidence of the important impact of school facilities on students, teachers, and communities. They then provide an overview of litigation aimed at state school finance systems across…

Over the last 3 decades student achievement has remained essentially unchanged in the United States, but not for a lack of spending. Over the same period a myriad of education reforms have been suggested and per-pupil spending has more than doubled. Since the 1990s the education reform attempts have frequently included judicial decisions to revise…