State Takeover of School Districts: Race and the Equal Protection Clause
![handle is hein.journals/indilr42 and id is 348 raw text is: STATE TAKEOVERS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS: RACE
AND THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE
JOSEPH 0. OLUWOLE*
PRESTON C. GREEN, IU**
INTRODUCTION
State takeover of school districts is a form of education reform designed to
promote educational and financial stability in school districts. In 1989, New
Jersey became the first state in the country to take over a district.' Kentucky
followed the same year.2 By 1989, six states had enacted State takeover laws
By 2004, the number increased to twenty-nine states.4 Most takeovers occurred
between 1995 and 1997.5 Before this peak, it is estimated that 60[%] of the
takeovers were for purely financial and/or management reasons, while only
27[%] were comprehensive takeovers that included academic goals. In the three
years after 1997, however, the percentage of comprehensive takeovers ha[d] risen
to 67[%].''6
State statutes and administrative codes often set forth grounds for State
takeovers of districts.7 Forms of takeovers include: gubernatorial appointment
* Attorney-at-law and Assistant Professor of Education and Law, Montclair State
University. J.D., Ohio State University; Ph.D., Educational Leadership, Penn State University.
** Professor of Education and Law, The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School
of Law. J.D., Columbia University; Ed.D., Columbia University, Teachers College.
1. MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL, SCHOOL REFORM STRATEGIES 7 (2007), available at
http://pubdef.netldownloads/Nadal-Report-on-State-Takeovers.pdf; see also NATIONALCENTERFOR
EDUCATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY, JERSEY CITY 4 (2006), available at http://www.broadprize.
org/asset/2006JerseyCityPublicSchoolsOverview.pdf.
2. Bruce C. Bowers, State-Enforced Accountability of Local School Districts, ERIC
CLEARINGHOUSE ON EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (1989), available at ERIC, http://www.
thememoryhole.org/edu/eric/ed309556.html.
3. See id. (identifying Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, and West
Virginia as states with takeover legislation); see also N.J. First to Attempt Complete Takeover,
EDUC. WK., June. 1, 1988 (identifying all the abovementioned states except West Virginia).
4. TAKEOVERS: STATE TAKEOVERS AND RECONSTITUTIONS 1, EDUC. COMM'N OF THE
STATES (2004), available at http://www.ecs.orglclearinghouse/51/67/5167.htm [hereinafter
TAKEOVERS].
5. Kenneth K. Wong & Francis X. Shen, City and State Takeover as a School Reform
Strategy, ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON URBAN EDUCATION 2 (2002), available at ERIC, http://
purl.access.gpo.gov/GPOLPS43146.
6. Id. Wong & Shen use the term comprehensive takeover to refer to takeovers that
include financial, managerial, and academic components. Id.
7. TAKEOVERS, supra note 4, at 3; David R. Berman, Takeovers of Local Governments: An
Overview and Evaluation of State Policies, PUBLIUS, Summer 1995, at 55, 64-70 (1995); Aaron
Saiger, Note, Disestablishing Local School Districts as a Remedy for Educational Inadequacy, 99
COLUM. L. REV. 1830, 1847-49 (1999) (discussing how states use statutes to integrate](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/indilr42&div=17&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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State Takeover of School Districts: Race and the Equal Protection Clause
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