This article discusses the impact of changing student demographics on financing education and on our national wellbeing. We begin by examining the research of current student demographics and their relationship to learning and education costs. We then calculate a 1% cost factor from the average per-pupil expenditure based on the 2011 "Digest…

The court refused to declare differences in per pupil district expenditures unconstitutional. Reformers must now look to the State courts for change in the present system of school finance. (Author/WM)

In a study that matched Wisconsin 1974 taxpayers with the school districts where they reside, it was found that poor people live in similar kinds of school districts (defined by school district property wealth, median family income, per pupil expenditure etc.) as nonpoor people. Implications of the research are discussed. (Author/LC)

Two landmark cases, "Serrano v Priest" (1971) and "Rodriguez v San Antonio" (1973) catapulted school finance litigation onto the political and educational scene. In their aftermath, 11 state supreme courts had ruled school funding systems unconstitutional while 12 state systems have been upheld as constitutional. Many…

As part of a nine-volume, six-state study of the impact of school finance reforms on minorities and the poor, the author examines the history and effects of finance reform in Texas. He presents a political and socioeconomic profile of the state and discusses past Texas school financing, the role of the Rodriguez v. San Antonio Independent School…

This research effort examines inequalities in educational input resources among school systems in Texas and California in light of the Rodriguez and Serrano court cases. Low-income families in both states were found to be in districts of low per-pupil-Expenditures and inferior educational services primarily because they are located in districts…

This study examines the current Texas school finance plan, the finance plans and proposals of other states, national school finance research, and the results of a survey of Texas leaders and educators before presenting alternative revenue and distribution plans, their effects and costs, and possible revenue sources. The study was conducted under…

A series of articles by attorneys and educators on the impact of the recent Supreme Court decision on State school finance schemes. (JF)

In this report, the author analyzes the recent United States Supreme Court decision, compares it with the preceding California case, Serrano vs Priest, and predicts future changes in State school finance systems as a result of this case. The author traces the Court's reasoning for finding that there was no violation of the Equal Protection Clause…

This paper traces the arguments and effects of both the Serrano and Rodriguez decisions and examines the state litigation and legislation spawned by them. The author notes that while the pace of school finance reform litigation has slowed, it has not halted altogether. It is now more tailored to the characteristics of the individual states…

In this landmark educational finance opinion (presented here in full) the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Texas case was not a proper case in which to examine a State's laws under standards of strict judicial scrutiny. That test, according to the Court, is reserved for cases involving laws that operate to the disadvantage of suspect classes or…