In the Serrano decisions, the courts found California's method of financing schools to be unconstitutional and gave the state until September 1, 1980 to reduce wealth-based expenditure differences to substantially less than $100 per pupil. The courts found three features of the state's system to be particularly onerous--the failure of the state to…

The Serrano case controversy raises the fundamental question: Do differences in school district per pupil expenditures represent cost differences incurred in providing essentially equivalent programs, or do they represent substantial differences in educational offerings? Although the answer is debatable, the California legislature increased…