School Money Trials The Legal Pursuit of Educational Adequacy

by West, Martin R.; Peterson, Paul E.

• ISBN13: 9780815770305
• ISBN10: 0815770308
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-19
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

"Policymakers seeking to enhance the school system's flagging productivity have proposed everything from new accountability systems to more parental choice.... While all these reforms have gained widespread attention, their implementation has been haphazard and idiosyncratic. Pressures to generate sustained improvement, especially in troubled urban districts, have only grown. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, an alternative reform strategy- the adequacy lawsuit-has made rapid headway within the nation's judicial system. Advocates for increased school spending have gone to court in at least thirty-nine states to date. Armed with photographs of rundown school buildings, data revealing large numbers of uncertified teachers, and evidence of abysmal and unequal student performance, teams of lawyers allege that schools lack sufficient funding to provide children with the quality of education guaranteed by the state's constitution. As a remedy, they ask the courts to mandate large increases in state aid for public schools. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
The Adequacy Lawsuit: A Critical Appraisal	p. 1
Rationale
Adding Adequacy to Equity	p. 25
Reinterpreting the Education Clauses in State Constitutions	p. 55
Evidence
The Alchemy of "Costing Out" an Adequate Education	p. 77
The Politicization of the School Finance Legal Proces	p. 102
Is Teacher Pay "Adequate" ?	p. 131
Impacts
Adequacy Judgments and School Reform	p. 159
The Non-Implementation of New Yorks Adequacy Judgment	p. 195
The Impact of School Finance Judgments on State Fiscal Policy	p. 213
Predictions
Adequacy, Accountability, and the Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act	p. 243
Adequacy Litigation in an Era of Accountability	p. 262
The Winning Defense in Massachusetts	p. 278
Reflections
The Uncertain Future of Adequacy Remedies	p. 307
Adequacy Litigation and the Separation of Powers	p. 322
Significant School Finance Judgments, 1971-2005	p. 345
Contributors	p. 359
Index	p. 361
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