Litigation

School finance litigation, by year, case, and status, by state: 1970-99

The table shown below summarizes the status of legal challenges to state education finance systems as of July 1999. Between 1970 and 1999, plaintiffs won at the State Supreme Court level or the Supreme Court approved a trial court decision for plaintiffs in 17 states, while plaintiffs lost at the Supreme Court and no later case was pending in 10 states. Plaintiffs lost at the Supreme Court level but further complaints were either pending or were sustained without a final determination or settled in 13 states. Finally, the Supreme Court had not rendered a decision on the school finance system, and no litigation was pending in 10 states (Long 1999; Minorini and Sugarman 1999).

See the complete table (39KB)

NOTE:   Cases pending as of 1999 are listed in capital letters. The District of Columbia was not reported in the original source.
¹ Procedural ruling issued in 1994 (Committee for Educational Equality v. State of Missouri).
SOURCE:   Overview and Inventory of State Education Reforms: 1990 to 2000 (NCES 2003020)
(See the report above for more detailed source information)

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