School-Financing Decisions from the Courts

A Startling Decision.

In August 1971 American public educators were startled by the California Supreme Court's decision in Serrano v. Priest, which declared that the financing of a child's public education may no longer depend on the wealth of the school district where that student lived. Instead, the court said, public schools may be funded only upon the basis of the wealth of the state as a whole. The assessed property valuation of a district was significant in public-school financing only insofar as it was part of the total state's valuation. Under Serrano there would be no more rich districts or poor districts. There would only be districts, entitled to fund an educational program at the same level, with the same local tax effort, as any other district. Part of the decision read, "An individual's life is surely affected more by his/her education than by his/her individual vote," and "the quality of a...

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