Top-down accountability policies have arguably had very limited impact over the past 20 years. Education stakeholders are now contemplating new forms of bottom-up accountability. In 2013, policymakers in California enacted a community-based approach that creates the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) process for school finance to increase…

Reviews state school-funding litigation since the California Supreme Court's 1971 decision in "Serrano v. Priest." Assesses the impact and evolution of state funding litigation; discusses the subsequent erosion of local control; describes potential future funding litigation involving rural schools, local sales taxes, and urban schools.…

Argues that local school districts in California have been rendered essentially obsolete by state funding and control due to the combined effects of the "Serrano" decision (requiring statewide school expenditure equalization) and Proposition 13. One board president and two superintendents take issue with this judgment. (TE)

This paper is part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002. It addresses education finance litigation generated by "Serrano v. Priest." (Considered a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of California, "Serrano" resulted in victory for funding-equity…

This paper traces the arguments and effects of both the Serrano and Rodriguez decisions and examines the state litigation and legislation spawned by them. The author notes that while the pace of school finance reform litigation has slowed, it has not halted altogether. It is now more tailored to the characteristics of the individual states…

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…

Education is declared to be an investment in human capital. Reform in school finance systems is long overdue in many states, but much progress has been made, and will yet be made, due to far-reaching decisions in a number of relevant court cases in the 1970s. To provide practical guidelines and cost-effective decision-making techniques for…

In response to the funding crisis generated in part by the "Serrano vs. Priest" decision and by Proposition 13, parents and volunteers in over 100 California school districts have formed tax-exempt nonprofit corporations to improve the quality of education by raising supplementary funds, usually through donations from parents of children…