Buszin, Jared S

Abstract:The academic achievement gap between poor, minority students and their wealthier white peers has been one of the most troubling and persistent policy problems in the United States throughout its history. For the past forty years,education reforrhers have turned to the courts to increase educational opportunities for minority and impoverished children by increasing their access to funding. Success in court has been mixed. While the Supreme Court's decision in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez/orec/oseJ the possibility of a federal right to equalized education expenditures, education reform plaintiffs in many states have been able to secure a state constitutional right to equalized education funding. Yet, despite these judicial victories,education reformers have failed to achieve their ultimate goal of equalizing educational opportunity. A substantial achievement gap that cuts along racial and socioeconomic lines still exists. Thus, thefocus on disparities in education expenditures appears misplaced.

This Comment proposes that litigants should redirect their attention to challenging inequitable or inadequate distributions of skill-based education inputs at the local level. This new approach is superior to the currentfocus on school finance challenges because researchers have increasingly found that skill-based inputs, such as teacher quality, are substantially related to improved academic outcomes. The approach this Comment proposes is also superior to finance suits because courts should be more receptive to these locally focused challenges, which raise fewer justiciability concerns than school finance suits. Accordingly, these new claims have the potential to lead to greater success in the courtroom and the classroom.

Key words: American;Reform litigation; education equality

总结：1、贫困和少数民族学生与富裕的白人群体之间的学术成就差异问题一直是美国历史上持续的最麻烦的政治问题之一。

2、过去四十年中，美国教育改革者转向法庭为贫困及少数民族学生争取更多的学习经费及资助以弥补教育不均等问题。

3、教育改革者应树立教育投入会对学术结果产生重要影响的观念，这个想法会增加司法胜利的机会，将改革转化为教室里实际的学术成就。

来源：Emory Law Journal. 2013

Vol. 62 Issue 6, p1613-1657. 45p.