Sanantonio independent school District V. Rodriguez and its aftermath

Virginia Law Review

Volumn 94, Issue 8, 2008, Pages 1963-1986

  Sutton, Jeffrey S ^a  

^a United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ^*  (United States)

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EID: 58649083259     PISSN: 00426601     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (147)

1. 347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954).
2. 411 U.S. 1 (1973).
3. Id. at 11-12.
4. Id. at 12-13.
5. Id. at 74-75 (Marshall, J., dissenting).
6. Id. at 12-13 (majority opinion).
7. Natalie Gomez-Velez, Public School Governance and Democracy: Does Public Participation Matter?, 53 Vill. L. Rev. 297, 301 (2008).
8. See Joseph P. Viteritti, The Inadequacy of Adequacy Guarantees: A Historical Commentary on State Constitutional Provisions that are the Basis for School Finance Litigation, 7 U. Md. L.J. Race Religion Gen. & Class 58, 73-78 (2007) (discussing the influence of Mann's Protestant common-school model and the tensions it raised with minority religious groups).
9. E.g., Md. Const, art. VIII, § 1; Ohio Const, art. VI, § 2. Cf. Tex. Const, art. VII, § 1 (mandating the creation of an "efficient" system of public schools).
10. See Annette B. Johnson, State Court Intervention in School Finance Reform, 28 Clev. St. L. Rev. 325, 328 (1979).
11. Id.
12. Id.
13. Id.
14. See id. at 328-29.
15. Id. at 329 & n.14.
16. See generally Frederick Eby, The First Century of Public Education in Texas in Texas Public Schools Sesquicentennial Handbook 35, 35-59 (2004);
17. Marilyn Kuehlem, Education Reforms from Gilmer-Aikin to Today in Texas Public Schools Sesquicentennial Handbook 60, 60-63 (2004);
18. Mark G. Yudof & Daniel C. Morgan, Rodriguez v. San Antonio Independent School District. Gathering the Ayes of Texas - The Politics of School Finance Reform, 38 Law & Contemp. Probs. 383, 383-91 (1974).
19. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 9-11.
20. Id. at 9 n.21.
21. See id. at 10-11.
22. Id. at 85 & n.44 ,86 & n.47, 136 app. III (Marshall, J., dissenting).
23. See Audio recording: Oral Argument in San Antonio Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez (Oct. 12, 1972) (http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1972/1972-71- 1332/argument) (acknowledging "its imperfections");
24. see also Brief for Appellants at 11, Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (No. 71-1332), 1972 WL 137565 (acknowledging "that there are still defects in" the Texas system).
25. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 47-48 & n.102.
26. See Richard Schragger, San Antonio v. Rodriguez and the Legal Geography of the School Finance Reform, in Civil Rights Stories 85, 93-102 (Myriam E. Gilles & Risa L. Goluboff eds., 2008).
27. Rodriguez v. San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist., 337 F. Supp. 280, 283-85 (W.D. Tex. 1971).
28. Id. at 284, 286.
29. See John C. Jeffries Jr., Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. 139-60 (Fordham Univ. Press 2001) (1994).
30. San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 35 (1973).
31. Id. at 37.
32. Id. at 38-39.
33. Id. at 20-22 (discussing Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956) (trial transcript for appeal);
34. Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 (1963) (court-appointed counsel);
35. Bullock v. Carter, 405 U.S. 134 (1972) (primary election filing-fee requirement)).
36. Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982).
37. Cf. Audio recording: Linda Greenhouse, New York Times, Distinguished Visitors Lecture at the University of Minnesota Law School: What Would Justice Powell Do? (Oct. 22, 2007), http://www.law.umn.edu/cle/07-081ectureseries.html.
38. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 59 (Stewart, J., concurring).
39. Id.
40. Id. at 63 (Brennan, J., dissenting).
41. Id. at 67-68 (White, J., dissenting).
42. Id. at 64-67.
43. Id. at 111, 115-16, 122 (Marshall, J., dissenting).
44. Id. at 109.
45. Id. at 41 n.85 (majority opinion).
46. Id.
47. Id. at 133 n.100 (Marshall, J., dissenting).
48. Johnson, supra note 10, at 331 n.20.
49. See Bd. of Educ. v. Walter, 390 N.E.2d 813, 816-17, 821 (Ohio 1979);
50. Johnson, supra note 10, at 330 n.17.
51. See Caroline M. Hoxby, All School Finance Equalizations Are Not Created Equal, 116 Q.J. Econ. 1189, 1189-90 (2001).
52. See John A. Thompson & Stacey E. Marlow, Hawaii, in U.S. Dep't of Educ, Nat'l Ctr. for Educ. Stat., Public School Finance Programs of the United States and Canada: 1998-99, at 1 (Catherine C. Sielke et al. compilers, 2001).
53. See, e.g., Dupree v. Alma Sch. Dist. No. 30, 651 S.W.2d 90, 93 (Ark. 1983);
54. Serrano v. Priest, 487 P.2d 1241, 1257-60 (Cal. 1971);
55. Horton v. Meskill, 376 A.2d 359, 374 (Conn. 1977);
56. Pauley v. Kelly, 255 S.E.2d 859, 878 (W. Va. 1979);
57. Washakie County Sch. Dist. No. One v. Herschler, 606 P.2d 310, 333-35 (Wyo. 1980);
58. see also Michael A. Rebell, "Educational Adequacy, Democracy, and the Courts," in National Research Council, Achieving High Educational Standards for All: Conference Summary 218, 226-27 (Timothy Ready et al. eds., 2002);
59. Molly S. McUsic, The Future of Brown v. Board of Education: Economic Integration of The Public Schools, 117 Harv. L. Rev. 1334, 1344 (2004) ("Prior to 1989, virtually every school finance case made its equity claim under a state constitution's equal protection clause.").
60. See Rebell, supra note 47, at 227 (noting that by 1988, defendants had prevailed in fifteen of the twenty-two States in which equity suits were brought).
61. Id. at 226-27.
62. Ohio Const, art. VI, § 2.
63. See Rebell, supra note 47, at 228; James E. Ryan, Schools, Race, and Money, 109 Yale L.J. 249, 268-69 (1999).
64. See Rebell, supra note 47, at 228.
65. National Access Network, Litigations Challenging Constitutionality of K-12 Funding in the 50 States (June 2008), http://www.schoolfunding.info/ litigation/ In-Process-Litigations.pdf.
66. National Access Network, "Equity" and "Adequacy" School Funding Liability Court Decisions (June 2008), http://www.schoolfunding. info/litigation/ equityandadequacytable.pdf.
67. See McUsic, supra note 47, at 1344 & n.63.
68. DeRolph v. State (DeRolph I), 677 N.E.2d 733, 747 (Ohio 1997);
69. DeRolph v. State (DeRolph II), 728 N.E.2d 993, 1020 (Ohio 2000).
70. DeRolph I, 677 N.E.2d at 747;
71. DeRolph II, 728 N.E.2d at 1021.
72. DeRolph v. State (DeRolph IV), 780 N.E.2d 529, 530 (Ohio 2002).
73. Id. at 537 (Moyer, C.J., dissenting).
74. Derolph II, 728 N.E.2d at 1005.
75. See DeRolph v. State (DeRolph III), 754 N.E.2d 1184, 1191 (Ohio 2001).
76. Id. at 1192-93.
77. Id. at 1199.
78. Id. at 1194.
79. DeRolph III, 754 N.E.2d at 1194;
80. Ohio Sch. Facilities Comm'n Ann. Rep. 27 (2007), available at http://www.osfc.state.oh.us/pdfs/AnnualReports/2007.pdf.
81. Ohio Sch. Facilities Comm'n Ann. Rep. 27 (2007).
82. Id.
83. See Ohio Sch. Facilities Comm'n Ann. Rep. 12 (1999), available at http://www.osfc.state.oh.us/pdfs/AnnualReports/1999.pdf.
84. DeRolph III, 754 N.E.2d 1184, 1196 (Ohio 2001)
85. (quoting DeRolph I, 677 N.E.2d 733, 742 (Ohio 1997)).
86. Id.
87. Id.
88. See Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby (Edgewood I), 777 S.W.2d 391, 392 (Tex. 1989);
89. Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby (Edgewood II), 804 S.W.2d 491, 492-93 (Tex. 1991);
90. Carrollton-Farmers Branch Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. (Edgewood III), 826 S.W.2d 489, 503 (Tex. 1992).
91. Tex. Const. art. VII, § 1.
92. Edgewood I, 777 S.W.2d at 397.
93. Id.
94. See Edgewood III, 917 S.W.2d at 731;
95. Neely v. West Orange-Cove Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist., 176 S.W.3d 746, 792 (Tex. 2005).
96. West Orange-Cove, 176 S.W.3d at 758.
97. See Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Meno (Edgewood IV), 917 S.W.3d 717, 730 (Tex. 1995).
98. Id. at 371.
99. West Orange-Cove, 176 S.W3d at 789.
100. See Richard Schragger, supra note 23, at 107 (observing that "over thirty years after Rodriguez, Edgewood's schools are now comparatively well-funded").
101. Id.
102. U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779, 838 (1995) (Kennedy, J., concurring).
103. U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2.
104. See, e.g., Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 42-45 (1996) (Ginsburg, J., concurring in the judgment);
105. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 133 n.100 (1973) (Marshall, J., dissenting);
106. William J. Brennan, Jr., State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 489, 491 (1977).
107. Workman v. Bredesen, 486 F.3d 896, 907 (6th Cir. 2007).
108. See Monique Oosse, Evaluation of April 1, 2000 School District Population Estimates Based on the Synthetic Ratio Method 53 tbl. 10 (U.S. Census Bureau, Population Div., Educ. & Soc. Stratification Branch, Working Paper No. 74, 2004), available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/ twps0074/twps0074.pdf;
109. National Center for Education Statistics, Number and Enrollment of Regular Public School Districts, By Enrollment Size of District Selected Years, 1979-80 through 2005-06, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07-084. asp (last viewed Sept. 29, 2008);
110. U. S. Census Bureau, USA Quickfacts, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ states/00000.html (last viewed Sept. 29, 2008);
111. United States Census Bureau, Historical National Population Estimates, http://www.census.gov/popest/archives/ 1990s/popclockest.txt (last viewed Sept. 29, 2008).
112. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 41.
113. Id. at 42 (quoting Jefferson v. Hackney, 406 U.S. 535, 546-47 (1972)).
114. Id. at 43;
115. see also Lawrence Gene Sager, Fair Measure: The Legal Status of Underenforced Constitutional Norms, 91 Harv. L. Rev. 1212, 1218 (1978).
116. Jamison E. Colburn, Rethinking Constitutionalism, 28 Rutgers L.J. 873, 898 (1997) (book review).
117. See Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 (1995).
118. See, e.g., DeRolph I, 611 N.E.2d 733, 747 (Ohio 1997);
119. DeRolph II, 728 N.E.2d 993, 1020-22 (Ohio 2000);
120. DeRolph III, 754 N.E.2d 1184, 1200-01 (Ohio 2001).
121. See John G. Augenblick et al., Equity and Adequacy in School Funding, 7 Future Child. 63, 64-66 (Winter 1997).
122. Michael Heise, Litigated Learning and the Limits of Law, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 2417, 2438 (2004).
123. Haw. Rev. Stat. §27-1 (2008).
124. See Rebell, supra note 47, at 226-27;
125. William H. Clune, New Answers to Hard Questions Posed By Rodriguez: Ending the Separation of School Finance and Educational Policy by Bridging the Gap Between Wrong and Remedy, 24 Conn. L. Rev. 721, 732 (1992);
126. McUsic, supra note 47, at 1347-54;
127. Laurie Reynolds, Skybox Schools: Public Education as Private Luxury, 82 Wash U. L.Q. 755, 782 (2004) (noting that "[i]n spite of [Colorado's experiment with spending] caps... district property wealth remains extremely relevant");
128. id. at 786-87 (noting that despite Washington's experiment with revenue redistribution from richer to poorer districts, "funding disparities ... are returning to their pre-1978 inequality" due to political pressures);
129. id. at 793-94 (describing the "vehement opposition" by residents of wealthy districts to Vermont's redistributive plan, leading to an amendment that removed caps for aU but the highest spending districts);
130. Hanif S. P. Hirji, Note and Comment, Inequalities in California's Public School System: The Undermining of Serrano v. Priest and the Need for a Minimum Standards System of Education, 32 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 583, 600 (1999) (noting that California voters responded to a court-imposed system of spending caps by passing Proposition 13, which severely limited the State's ability to use local property tax revenues to equalize educational spending).
131. See Neely v. West Orange-Cove Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist., 176 S.W.3d 746, 752-53, 787-88 (Tex. 2005).
132. See DeRolph I, 677 N.E.2d 733, 792-93 (Ohio 1997).
133. See Julian R. Betts, Is There a Link Between School Inputs and Earnings? Fresh Scrutiny of an Old Literature, in Does Money Matter? The Effect of School Resources on Student Achievement and Adult Success, 141 (Gary Burtless ed., 1996);
134. James S. Coleman et al., Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966);
135. Eric A. Hanushek, Assessing the Effects of School Resources on Student Performance: An Update, 19 Educ. Evaluation & Pol'y Analysis 141 (1997);
136. Molly McUsic, The Use of Education Clauses in School Finance Reform, 28 Harv. J. on Legis. 307, 316 (1991);
137. McUsic, supra note 47, at 1355.
138. See generally Goodwin Liu, Interstate Inequality in Educational Opportunity, 81 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 2044 (2006).
139. 545 U.S. 469 (2005).
140. See Steven J. Eagle & Lauren A. Perotti., Coping with Kelo: A Potpourri of Legislative and Judicial Responses, 42 Real Prop. Prob. & Tr. J. 799, 803 (2008).
141. See id. at 805-07 (Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, and Wyoming).
142. See id. at 807-08 (Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and South Dakota).
143. See id. at 808-09 (Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and West Virginia).
144. See id. at 823.
145. See City of Norwood v. Horney, 853 N.E.2d 1115, 1123 (Ohio 2006);
146. Bd. of County Comm'rs of Muskogee County v. Lowery, 136 P.3d 639, 652 (Okla. 2006).
147. See Eagle et al., supra note 103, at 830-45 (Arkansas, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island).