Description: "The United States Supreme Court closed the courthouse door to federal litigation to narrow educational funding and opportunity gaps in schools when it ruled in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez in 1973 that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to education. Rodriguez pushed reformers back to the state courts where they have had some success in securing reforms to school funding systems through education and equal protection clauses in state constitutions, but far less success in changing the basic structure of school funding in ways that would ensure access to equitable and adequate funding for schools."--
Brief description: Kimberly Jenkins Robinson is Professor and Executive Director of the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law. She is also Professor at UVA's School of Education and Human Development and a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.
Review Quotes: "This important book examines the pressing issue of how we can actually and at long last deliver on an equity promise in public education to the nation's students. The debates in these pages merit deep and sustained attention to protect the long recognized public good of educating all people, regardless of background, toward effective civic engagement and participation. Kimberly Jenkins Robinson and her contributors in these pages distill and make accessible competing theories for if and how to proceed, without ever losing focus on what is at stake for children in school and the health of the nation. This book is a must read for anyone who cares about policy for kids."--Catherine Lhamon, chair, US Commission on Civil Rights and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, US Department of Education