"How a 1973 Supreme Court Decision Has Contributed to Our Inequality"

[applegrove]

How a 1973 Supreme Court Decision Has Contributed to Our Inequality

by Geoffrey R. Stone at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/15/how-a-1974-supreme-court-decision-has-contributed-to-our-inequality.html

"SNIP......................


The state of public education in the United States is widely acknowledged to be little short of disastrous. This is due, in no small part, to a relatively obscure 1973 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. In a hotly contested 5-to-4 decision in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, the Court held that there is no constitutional right to an equal education. In so doing, it declined to address a fundamental problem that has undermined American public education ever since.

The problem, quite simply, is inequality of resources. There is a strong, though not perfect, correlation between dollars spent per pupil and student education outcomes (measured by such factors as dropout rates, high school graduation rates, scores on standardized tests, etc.). The correlation is especially robust in the lower grades, when students are in their formative years. According to a recent study, for example, a 10 percent increase in per pupil expenditures generates a 4 percent increase in graduation rates.

If disparities in per pupil expenditures were small, this might not be a big deal. But the reality is much more dramatic. My own state of Illinois is more or less in the middle of the pack among all states in per pupil expenditures. But the variation across the state is staggering. The average per pupil expenditure for elementary school students in Illinois is approximately $11,600 per year.

Per pupil expenditures across the state’s elementary schools, however, range from a high of $28,500 to a low of $6,400. The state is therefore spending more than four times as much per pupil on students in some districts than it is spending on students in other districts. These are huge variations. Unsurprisingly, these variations in per pupil expenditures affect the quality of education—and the lives—of these children forever.



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[dem in texas]

1. Texas now Has "Robin Hood"

I didn't know about this ruling. but I do know that Texas has a "Robin Hood" law where the richer school districts must give a portion of their property tax money to the poorer districts to level the state funding for schools. I don't know how this law and the ruling you are talking about were reconciled here in Texas, but I live in Dallas and the Dallas school district is required to contribute millions to go to the poorer school districts in Texas.

[applegrove]

2. Good to know.