What Does it Mean if a State’s
School Financing is Declared Unconstitutional?The following are answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding school financing and what it means for students, educators, schools and communities. The answers to these FAQs are intended to provide only an introductory overview of key issues.
What Does it Mean if a State’s
School Financing is Declared Unconstitutional?
Since 1972 over 40 school finance cases have been heard at the state supreme court level. Sixteen plaintiffs have won, 19 have lost, and 6 cases are present but dormant. The cases arise when it’s believed that inequalities in schools spending effect the state duty to provide a thorough education. The states, then, have to judge what is meant by their state constitutional requirement to provide a thorough and efficient system of free public schools to every child in the state. The controversy rests with the distinction between fiscal opportunity and the intent of "thorough" education.
How Do the State Funding Cases Effect
My Child?
Unconstitutional rulings are an opportunity to boost school quality. States should link a school’s financing to the quality of education it provides. This is done by establishing a child-based system of school finance, where all funding -- both operating and capital -- follows the child to the school of his or her choice. The consequences are significant.
(1) Per-pupil funding moves local control from the school district level down to the household level by giving parents meaningful educational options for their children.
(2) Child-based funding will improve the quality of public education by expanding student choice and competition in the system through the growth of charter schools and other school choice options. Students and parents would become valued clients and consumers and the revenue a school receives would directly reflect the quality and effectiveness of its educational program.
(3) Since school districts will no longer be involved in taxing, their role and scope of activities in the future will depend upon their ability to provide necessary services to schools on a competitive basis, such as charter schools are doing today.
For More Information on What's
Happening in School Financing, see CER's Education
Reform Overview and Truth in Spending.