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Article: Equally mediocre: the ineptitude of court-driven school reform.(Book Review)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Education Next
- Article date:
- June 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Hoover Institution Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Final Test: The Battle for Adequacy in America's Schools
By Peter Schrag
New Press, 2003, $25.95; 288 pgs.
Peter Schrag's Final Test describes how judicial rulings in state courts are transforming the way American public schools are financed. The pioneer in the brave new world of school finance was the California Supreme Court, which in the 1971 Serrano decision found that local property taxation was an inequitable means of funding public schools. The court ordered the state to simultaneously equalize tax bases and spending per pupil. Implementation of this idea was furthered in 1978 by Proposition 13, which, by capping property-tax rates and ...