Since the separate-but-equal era, students attending schools with high concentrations of Black students have attempted to improve the quality of their educations through school finance litigation. Because of the negative effects of racial isolation, Black students might consider mounting school finance litigation to force states to explicitly…

Raising academic standards and eliminating achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are America's prime national educational goals. Current federal and state policies, however, largely ignore the fact that the childhood poverty rate in the United States is 21%, the highest in the industrialized world, and that poverty…

A constitutional finance system should provide each student with a minimum adequate education and should assure that extras not depend on where a student lives. Available from Ohio State Law Journal, 1659 North High St., Columbus, OH 43210. (Author/IRT)

A review of lawsuits arguing that the disparity in assessed valuation of property between school districts results in lower per pupil funds in poor school districts thus violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The report also considers objections to and criticisms of the premises of these law suit. (JF)

In 1971 the California Supreme Court published America's most significant court decision in recent decades affecting a state's program of funding the operation of its public schools. This was followed by court decisions in Minnesota, Texas, and New Jersey. Lawsuits based on the California case of Serrano v. Priest are being filed in courts…

Arguing violation of the equal protection clause of Federal and State constitutions, court actions in several States have challenged the method of financing public education. The issues raised concern interdistrict differentials in assessed valuation of properties. These differentials result in lower per-pupil funds for urban and rural districts…

Examines the "Levittown" case in which the Nassau County Supreme Court of New York declared the state's school financing statute invalid under both the New York and the United States constitutions. Available from New York University, 249 Sullivan Street, New York, New York 10012. (Author/IRT)

This paper describes the research that has been required to develop the factual evidence for challenges to inequitable school finance laws and for defenses of school finance reform legislation in Oregon and Wisconsin. Both the challenge to and the defense of school finance legislation use an analytical framework that focuses on the following…

The authors examined the effects of school finance reforms on equality of educational opportunities in several states, analyzing court cases in California, New York, and Illinois, and suggest that reform policies may not work as their designers intended. Illinois was used as a case study in constructing tests to measure school finance reform…

This speech incorporates a major policy statement regarding school subsidies in Maine. The author discusses equality of educational opportunity; and he comments on the property tax, wealth-connected inequities, and class action suits. The speech focuses on a discussion of the Maine subsidy law and its effects; as well as the Maine property, sales,…

The implications of the "Serrano-type" court cases are slowly making an impact on State school finance structures. Nearly every State has just completed or is undertaking a study of public school finance problems. Although the impetus for change is coming from the courts, the real work is being accomplished by the governors, legislators, and staff…

This paper outlines the historical background leading to the California Serrano vs Priest decision, discusses the implications of that decision, and suggests what might be done to fashion the elements of a State aid formula to meet the tests of equity and fairness demanded by Serrano. The author presents the various equalizing formulas and…

Since 1968, there has been a monumental amount of litigation concerning the financing of schools. This seventeenth chapter of a book on school law reviews cases dealing with fiscal equalization of state-supported programs. Many cases litigated since 1977 and two litigated before 1977 are dealt with. In 1973 in the "San Antonio" case, the…