Ohio Supreme Court Turns Away Legal Challenge To School Finance System

Re-emphasizing its December 2002 decision to end jurisdiction in the long-standing DeRolph litigation, the Ohio Supreme Court, on May 16, 2003, issued a writ of prohibition forbidding the Superior Court from exercising jurisdiction and holding a compliance conference on the state's conformity with aspects of the court's orders in DeRolph. In March, after the legislature rejected the governor's proposal for a tax increase to support education, plaintiffs requested the compliance conference. The state responded by asking the supreme court to issue a writ of prohibition.

Looking back on eleven-years of struggle in DeRolph, the educators and advocates who brought the case can take pride in the billions of dollars of school facilities funding now flowing from the state to some of its neediest districts and schools. They have also obtained from the court clear legal holdings that: (1) place responsibility for providing "a through and efficient system of common schools" squarely on the shoulders of the state legislature; and (2) establish that a "thorough and efficient" system means one that provides sufficient educational opportunities--including teachers, curricula, textbooks, buildings and supplies--to all students to prepare them to participate fully in society.

Advocates are undoubtedly disappointed, however, by the state's failure to reduce reliance on local property taxes and other flawed features of the current finance system, which result in profoundly unequal and inferior educational opportunities for the large portion of the state's students who attend urban and rural schools.

Prepared May 22, 2003