© 1991 by CSF Associates Inc.
State Reform in Education Finance: Territorial and Social Strategies
University of Chicago
As of January 1991, state education finance systems had been overturned by the courts in twelve states and upheld by the courts in another fourteen. This article examines the ways in which states have responded to the challenge of equity in school finance. Equity reforms are rooted in two kinds of inequities in public elementary and secondary education. First, state governments can address interdistrict or territorial inequity that is due to the disparity in local taxable wealth. Second, state governments can address the social inequity that arises from the presence of special-needs populations within a district. A reform strategy is likely to reflect a state's relative emphases on territorial and social inequities. The common tendency, however, is to focus on territorial equity. These policy tendencies are shaped by various state political and institutional factors.