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1991 Ann. Surv. Am. L. 609 (1991)
Education Reform: Judicial Interpretation of State Constitutions' Education Finance Provisions--Adequacy vs. Equality

handle is hein.journals/annam1991 and id is 653 raw text is: EDUCATION REFORM: JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS' EDUCATION FINANCE PROVISIONS-ADEQUACY VS. EQUALITY RICHARDJ. STARK INTRODUCTION Since the late 1960's, a growing awareness of the inadequa- cies and inequalities in public school funding has caused a nation- wide conflict over public school financing systems.' Insurgent reformers seeking a fundamental change in the methods of public school finance initially succeeded in the state legislatures, although the resulting legislative reforms failed.2 Because the federal judiciary has effectively removed itself and the Constitu- tion from the fray,3 reformers have been forced to turn to state Submitted for publication March 15, 1991. Richard J. Stark is a staff member of Annual Survey of American Law. 1. See generally Johnson, State Court Intervention in School Finance Re- form, 28 Clev. St. L. Rev. 325 (1979); Lindquist & Wise, Developments in Edu- cation Litigation: Equal Protection, 5J.L. & Educ. 1 (1976); Thomas, Equalizing Educational Opportunity Through School Finance Reform: A Review Assess- ment, 48 U. Cin. L. Rev. 255 (1979); Note, To Render Them Safe: The Analysis of State Constitutional Provisions in Public School Finance Reform Litigation, 75 Va. L. Rev. 1639 (1989). The term public schools as used herein, refers to primary and secondary public schools. 2. See infra notes 62-79 and accompanying text. 3. See San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973). Rod- rigu= essentially marked the end of federal equal protection-based attacks on public school financing and the beginning of reform attempts through the state judiciaries. In that case, the Supreme Court held that although the Texas system produced wide funding disparities among school districts, id. at 15, the system did not violate the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. at 54-55. Rodriguez, however, did not totally foreclose school finance litigation at the federal level. The Court left open the possibility that a system resulting in the total deprivation of education to some children might violate the equal protec- tion clause of the fourteenth amendment. Id. at 37. That reservation suggests that there is a right to some minimal level of education under the federal consti- tution. See Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 210-30 (1982) (Texas statute authoriz- ing school districts to deny free public education to children of illegal aliens violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment). It has been argued that the Supreme Court espoused a rule requiring an adequate educa- 609 Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law

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