In this article, I detail how I revised a social foundations of education course to center major Supreme Court cases relating to K-12 public schools. Scholars in social foundations of education have articulated a vision for the field that fosters and promotes democracy and democratic dispositions. Focusing on the Supreme Court in a social…

This article discusses concerns about how Neil M. Gorsuch, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, might influence decisions regarding cases involving the appropriate scope of services guaranteed by federal special-education law, government aid to religious institutions providing educational services, and how intellectual property law applies to sports…

This article provides historical and legal context for recent U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation decisions. The Supreme Court's race-based and race-neutral arguments from "Brown" (1954) to "Parents Involved" (2007) are examined within their broader context. Policy implications and potential support for diversity goal…

This article reviews the impacts of the civil rights policies framed in the 1960s and the anti-civil rights political and legal movements that reversed them. It documents rising segregation by race and poverty. The policy reversals and transformation of U.S. demography require a new civil rights strategy. Vast immigrations, the sinking White…

Prior to the United States Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954), educational finance litigation focused almost entirely on the equitable distribution of state educational financing, ending preferential disbursement of state funds. This ended in 1973, with the United States Supreme Court's decision in "San…

Discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez," handed down 10 years ago, concerning financial equity in the Texas school finance program. Summarizes Justice Powell's majority opinion and Justice Marshall's dissent and introduces the two following articles assessing the decision's…

John Coons, coauthor of a book on equity in public education finance that influenced the theories tested in "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez," discusses the issues involved in the case, the likely impact had the decision favored the plaintiffs, and the future of school finance reform. (RW)

Using cases concerning access to rights, argues that the state owes an affirmative obligation to provide an adequate level of education and that this obligation is consistent with the federalism concerns expressed in "Rodriguez." Available from School of Law, University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA 95053. (IRT)

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 landmark "Rodriguez" decision (constitutionally challenging Texas's school-finance system), courts have increasingly used student assessments as evidence of educational adequacy and focused more on educational quality than fiscal equity. Despite pitched battles, a consensus of adequacy and quality may…