The Effectiveness of School Finance Litigation

Constitutional litigation on school finance equity has raged for decades with little clear understanding of its achievements. The role of the courts has been complex, and they have enjoyed mixed success in affecting school finance reform.
Careful examination of court rulings and legislative responses, education revenue and expenditures, and the political, economic, and social context of reform in Missouri and Kansas, states with similar economic and political geographies and contrasting court experiences, shed light on the reasons for such different experiences.
Multiple variables were analyzed to attempt to explain these different reform results, including the language and procedures of the courts themselves, the political culture of the states, measures of state wealth and tax burden, and demographic components of the states'' populations. The key difference between Missouri and Kansas was the level of court involvement itself and the initial expenditure and equity levels. The experiences of Missouri and Kansas with litigation-inspired school finance reform demonstrate that courts can and do have a significant impact on the equitable distribution of resources for students.

Autorentext
Clifton O Moran Clifton O Moran, II, Ed.D. Teachers College, Columbia University