Overview of Litigation History

Summary of School Funding Court Cases (1973-2020)

*Pending cases generally involve follow-up compliance decisions or proceedings in states where courts have ruled that there is a constitutional right to an adequate education and that the state’s current education-finance system is violating that right. The litigation in Iowa constitutes an initial judicial consideration of the constitutional issues. In Pennsylvania, plaintiffs are asking the state supreme court to reconsider its past refusals to enforce a right to an adequate education because of separation of powers reasons. The plaintiffs in Michigan are asking the federal district court to hold that students have a right to fundamental access to literacy under the equal-protection clause of the United States Constitution.