Robert M. Howard & Christine H. Roch 
Power, Constraint, and Policy Change 
Courts and Education Finance Reform

Power, Constraint, and Policy Change analyzes state court influence on state education finance reform. Beginning in the early 1970s litigants began filing suits in state courts to change state education funding in order to prevent disparities in education resources between wealthy and poor communities. These cases represent a fundamental policy debate in American society, pitting the importance of education against the cost and method of funding it. Through education finance, the authors explore how and why courts often end up determining and resolving policy funding debates. Education funding has involved both the federal constitution and state constitutions, as well as legislation and court-mandated remedies, which, ultimately, determine who and how we pay for this critical American value.

สารบัญ

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments



1. Introduction

The Fight over Funding

A Brief History of Public Education

The Funding Disparity and the Turn to Court-Ordered Solutions

Why Courts? A Theory of Policy Change through State Courts

Waves of Finance Reform

Plan of the Book



2. Why Courts?

Introduction: Politics, Law, and Education Finance Reform

The Political Environment

Hypotheses

Data

Models, Methodology, and Results

Conclusion: Predicting the Institutional Agent of Court-Ordered Finance Reform



3. Citation Patterns in Education Finance Policy

Introduction

Vertical Citations and the Power of Precedent

Horizontal Citations and Persuasiveness

Hypotheses: State Supreme Courts Shaping Education Finance Reform

Data and Methods

Results



4. When Citations Are Not Enough

Introduction

What Else Matters

Testing the Limits of Citations: Data and Methods

Results

Discussion and Conclusion



5. Policy Diffusion through Courts

Introduction: Do as I Do, Not as I Say

Policy Diffusion in the States

Diffusion and Emulation of Court-Ordered Education

Finance Reform

Political, Institutional, and Legal Factors Influencing Emulation

Data, Method, and Model

Results

Discussion



6. Conclusion—How State Courts Move and Change Policy

Law, Politics, and Policy Formation

Empirical Findings

What We Know

What We Want to Know



Notes

References

Index

เกี่ยวกับผู้แต่ง

Robert M. Howard is Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University. He is the author of several books, including
Getting a Poor Return: Courts, Justice, and Taxes, also published by SUNY Press. Also at Georgia State University,
Christine H. Roch is Professor of Public Management and Policy.
Susanne Schorpp is Research Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, Australia.
Shane A. Gleason is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.