Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity

Book Description

Federal reform legislation declares, through its title, that no child should be left behind. Despite this, the sad truth is that many children are being left behind, particularly in large, poor, urban school districts. Because of this inequity, state supreme courts have thrown out the education finance systems in eighteen states, and many states have implemented major education finance reforms. These reforms have lessened disparities in educational spending but appear to have had little impact on disparities in educational performance. Helping Children Left Behind explores both the general issues in education finance reform and the experiences of five states to understand why these disparities persist and to design policies that address them. The book is a valuable resource for scholars, public officials, and others interested in education finance reform.

The first part of the book addresses the general issues involved in reform of state aid to education. After a comprehensive introductory chapter that outlines such issues as selecting aid formulas, adjusting for disadvantaged students, district accountability, and school choice, the chapters in part I examine these issues in more depth, discussing court cases involving school finance reform, the relationship between funding and accountability, and the consequences and feedback effects of school aid reform policies, including the effect on residential patterns. The second part of the book consists of detailed case studies of recent ambitious school finance reform efforts in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, and Vermont. Three appendixes offer valuable reference material, describing significant state court decisions on school finance systems (through June 2003), state operating aid programs, and state building aid formulas.

Customer Reviews:

Education reforms are hindered through uneven funding.......2005-09-30

John Yinger and associates have powerful lessons to teach legislators and taxpayers alike in this well-researched and written anthology.

People support educational achievement only as far as standardized testing and school penalties/rewards packages, burdens are placed on the students and schools without people having to part with any extra money. Equalizing public school funding--hey, that's a different and amazingly still controversial policy.

Public school funding ultimately is affected by politics. Citizens who are unhappy with the then-current distribution of public school resources can go to court and attempt to receive a redistribution order. The courts can also review school finance legislation and declare if these ultimately political programs are themselves constitutional.

State and federal legislators can pass all of the laws they want, but then failing to address budgets will fail to address student's educational needs. This ultimately creates problems for the students themselves. Politics are being played with their education, and subsequently their lives.

One of the most convincing briefs in the Brown case specifically was the disparate resources throughout the schools which African American communities had to use. Black students used the most run-down and worn materials and facilities when compared to White schools in a segregated community.

Agreeing that students should know the basics, I am concerned that students whose schools lack money to instruct in the basics will have a difficult time then passing mandatory standardized testing programs in today's world.

We do not formally discriminate on race/ethnicity anymore, but these testing programs provide a covert method for America to circumvent Brown. The politically loaded term "student achievement" is being used to justify return to draconian educational policies. We also forget there is more than one way for people to effectively process information.

While reading this book, I also thought about the recent hurricane evacuees from Louisiana, a state where private schools are ultimately the norm.

Originally set up so that white families would be able to get around desegregation orders, the predominance of private schooling for everybody (of all races) has resulted in Louisiana simply allocating much less money for it's public school systems.

Texas certainly has it's own public school funding problems, but I hope that the families who had to temporarily settle in the Lone Star State took back with them the benefits of putting sufficient money into the public school system.

America and its states are literally getting what they pay for from public education.

Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity.(Book Review): An article from: National Tax Journal

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Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity.(Book Review): An article from: National Tax Journal
A. Abigail Payne
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Tax Journal, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2005. The length of the article is 2228 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity.(Book Review)
Author: A. Abigail Payne
Publication: National Tax Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Page: 843(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

In this landmark book, Neil Vidmar looks beyond the common perceptions of medical malpractice litigation and finds a system that is fair, impartial, and intelligent. Firmly grounded in a wealth of empirical data, the author presents a fresh look at a civil jury system that has been maligned as out-of-touch, capricious, and disposed to awarding exorbitant, unjustified amounts to plaintiffs whenever they have the opportunity. In an era when tort reform is high on the congressional agenda, Medical Malpractice and the American Jury is almost alone in voicing reason and fact.

Written in a thoroughly inviting, jargon-free style, Medical Malpractice and the American Jury places those cases that go to trial in the broader context of litigation, noting that only about ten percent of malpractice cases ever result in trials. Of those that do go to trial, the author notes, more than two out of three cases are decided in the doctor's favor--repudiating the view that jurors are inherently biased against doctors and are motivated more by sympathy for the plaintiff than by the facts of the case.

Neil Vidmar comprehensively addresses all the claims that have been leveled against the performance of malpractice juries. For example, he compares actual jury decisions on negligence with neutral physicians' ratings of whether negligence occurred in the medical treatment and finds a remarkable consistency--repudiating the view that jurors are unable to understand experts or uncritically defer to their opinion.

"Medical Malpractice and the American Jury is quite simply the most compelling, comprehensive examination of the American jury system yet written. It brings reason and fact to the debate in a way that puts the lie to the many myths surrounding medical negligence cases. For anyone genuinely interested in just solutions, this book should be required reading. To act in ignorance of its findings invites disaster." --Trial

"For anyone really interested in the evidence about the daily grind of the courthouse mill, Neil Vidmar's Medical Malpractice and the American Jury is a good place to start." --Washington Post Book World

Neil Vidmar is Professor of Social Science and Law, Duke Law School, and Professor of Psychology, Duke University.

Customer Reviews:

Eye opening.......2006-05-10

Finally some empirical truth on this issue: rich insurance companies playing doctors and lawyers against each other like pawns. The real losers are the patients.

I still didn't get it.......2006-02-25

It's been ages since I bought this book, but I haven't received it so far. I hope, that Amazon won't fail again. I'm still waiting. Maybe after reading it, I'll be able to rate it in a more proper way.

The Law of the Other: The Mixed Jury and Changing Conceptions of Citizenship, Law, and Knowledge (New Practices of Inquiry)

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The Law of the Other: The Mixed Jury and Changing Conceptions of Citizenship, Law, and Knowledge (New Practices of Inquiry)
Marianne Constable
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226114988

Book Description

The Law of the Other is an account of the English doctrine of the "mixed jury". Constable's excavation of the historical, rhetorical, and theoretical foundations of modern law recasts our legal and sociological understandings of the American jury and our contemporary conceptions of law, citizenship, and truth.

The "mixed jury" doctrine allowed resident foreigners to have law suits against English natives tried before juries composed half of natives and half of aliens like themselves. As she traces the transformations in this doctrine from the Middle Ages to its abolition in 1870, Constable also reveals the emergence of a world where law rooted in actual practices and customs of communities is replaced by law determined by officials, where juries no longer strive to speak the truth but to ascertain the facts.

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American Juries: The Verdict
Neil Vidmar , and Valerie P. Hans
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Legal System | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Lawyer's Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet, Third Edition

ASIN: 1591025885

Book Description

Although the right to trial by jury is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, in recent years both criminal and civil juries have been criticized as incompetent, biased, and irresponsible. For example, the O.J. Simpson criminal jury's verdict produced a racial divide in opinions about that trial. And many Americans still hold strong views about the jury that awarded millions of dollars to a woman who spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself. It's said that there are "judicial hellholes" where local juries provide "jackpot justice" in medical malpractice and product liability cases with corporate defendants. Are these claims valid? This monumental and comprehensive volume reviews over fifty years of empirical research on civil and criminal juries and returns a verdict that strongly supports the jury system. Rather than relying on anecdotes, Vidmar and Hans--renowned scholars of the jury system--place the jury system in its historical and contemporary context, giving the stories behind important trials while providing fact-based answers to critical questions. How do juries make decisions and how do their verdicts compare to those of trial judges and technical experts? What roles do jury consultants play in influencing trial outcomes? Can juries understand complex expert testimony? Under which circumstances do capital juries decide to sentence a defendant to die? Are juries biased against doctors and big business? Should juries be allowed to give punitive damages? How do juries respond to the insanity defense? Do jurors ignore the law? Finally, the authors consider various suggestions for improving the way that juries are asked to carry out their duties. After briefly comparing the American jury to its counterparts in other nations, they conclude that our jury system, despite occasional problems, is, on balance, fair and democratic, and should remain an indispensable component of the judicial process for the foreseeable future.

The American Jury System (Yake Contemporary Law)

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Maybe the best of its type

The American Jury System (Yake Contemporary Law)
Randolph N. Jonakait
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Legal System | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

Jury | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0300124635

Book Description

How are juries selected in the United States? What forces influence juries in making their decisions? Are some cases simply beyond the ability of juries to decide? How useful is the entire jury system? In this important and accessible book, a prominent expert on constitutional law examines these and other issues concerning the American jury system. Randolph N. Jonakait describes the historical and social pressures that have driven the development of the jury system; contrasts the American jury system to the legal process in other countries; reveals subtle changes in the popular view of juries; examines how the news media, movies, and books portray and even affect the system; and discusses the empirical data that show how juries actually operate and what influences their decisions. Jonakait endorses the jury system in both civil and criminal cases, spelling out the important social role juries play in legitimizing and affirming the American justice system.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe the best of its type.......2005-06-21

In recent years, several books have come out, each giving an overview of the jury system in terms that a lay audience can understand. Out of all of them, this may be the very best. Broad in its scope, Jonakait covers his topic with care and understanding. He displays an insight into the jury system that comes from his years as a trial lawyer, and his experience as an academic. The result is a balanced, fair work that is meticulously researched and documented.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Inside the American Jury System

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Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Inside the American Jury System
Melvyn Bernard Zerman
Manufacturer: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFLV0Q

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Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Inside the American Jury System
Melvyn Bernard Zerman
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

Charting a Future for the Civil Jury System: Report from an American Bar Association/Brookings Symposium

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Charting a Future for the Civil Jury System: Report from an American Bar Association/Brookings Symposium
Institution Brookings
Manufacturer: Brookings Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0815712650

Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform (American Bar Foundation)

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Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform

Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform (American Bar Foundation)
Stephen Daniels , and Joanne Martin
Manufacturer: Northwestern University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Legal System | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Civil Juries and the Politics of Reform.......2000-06-18

An independent research arm of the American Bar Association supported these two authors to gather and investigate available info [aka empirical data] about civil jury verdicts to see if the data supports claims made by those advocating radical reform of the system. They conclude that info does not support the claims of the advocates of change and reveal how "tort reform" is a political agenda based upon exploitation of fears fueled and funded by a coalition of insurance interests, big business and the republican right.

In the Hands of the People: The Trial Jury's Origins, Triumphs, Troubles, and Future in American Democracy

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Timely
For Those Who Care About Justic
A Good Intro to the Jury System

In the Hands of the People: The Trial Jury's Origins, Triumphs, Troubles, and Future in American Democracy
William L Dwyer
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312278128

Book Description

In a passionate warning that is not only well-reasoned, as becomes a renowned former trial lawyer and present federal judge, but is also a compelling and entertaining read, William L. Dwyer defies those who would abolish our jury system and hand over its power to judges or to panels of "experts."He aims, by making his readers aware of what should be done, to help us save what he calls "America's most democratic institution."In an overview of litigation's universe, Dwyer goes back several centuries to describe the often terrifying ways our ancestors arrived at verdicts of guilt or innocence.Tracing the evolution of our present-day system, he gives us excerpts from the actual records of such trials as that of young William Penn, arrested for preaching Quaker beliefs in public; the Salem witch trials; and the landmark civil rights trial of 18th century newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger, whose attorney was the original "Philadelphia lawyer."Along with these famous courtroom episodes are many never before described in print, all of them infused with the drama that gives life to the law.Dwyer's language is clear and engaging - a pleasant surprise for readers apprehensive about legal gobbledygook.He has a store of courtroom "war stories," some inspiring, some alarming, many enlivened by gleams of the author's wry humor.Underlying that humor, however, is the judge's fear that the jury system is endangered by neglect and misunderstanding, and could be lost without the public being aware of what is happening.The book shows that despite much adverse publicity, the American jury still works capably, at times brilliantly, when given a fair chance by the legal professionals who run trials.Consequently, the author deals with what has gone wrong with American litigation, the controversy over the jury's competence and integrity, and trial and pretrial reforms that must be made to save trial by jury and reshape American litigation in the twenty-first century.AUTHORBIO: William L. Dwyer, widely recognized as one of the nation's foremost trial judges, practiced law for thirty years before his 1987 appointment as United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington.He has tried many notable cases, including one that brought the Seattle Mariners baseball team into existence and another that protected the northern spotted owl from the logging in federal forests.He has received more than a dozen awards for his work as a lawyer, judge, and author, including the American Bar Association's Gavel Award and the Governor's Award for Writers, State of Washington.In June 2001, the University of Washington School of Law established the William L. Dwyer Chair in Law, an endowed chair funded by the University and by numerous donors.Judge Dwyer lives with his wife, Vasiliki, in Seattle.

Customer Reviews:

Timely.......2002-10-18

This book provides a terrific historical perspective as to why the jury system is so important to our form of democracy. A quoted in this book, Thomas Jefferson wrote that it is more important for a citizen of this country to sit on a jury than it is for her to vote in an election. In today's world of out-of-control corporate greed, it is nice to see at least one author taking the bold steps of presenting the truth. Corporate america does not fear our politicians or the government. The only voice that big business fears is that of the jury. It is only the jury that can control bis business in today's society. Why? because it only a jury that can speak the language that corporate america understands - money. Without the jury, we will further slip into a world of the haves and the have nots. This is a must read. I only wish I could buy a copy for everyone I know.

For Those Who Care About Justic.......2002-05-16

This is for those who know a little but not a lot about why juries are so precious in America. With clarity and brilliance, Dwyer makes the case for the jury. For me, he also, unwittingly I think, made the case that I should not avoid serving on a jury notwithstanding the nuisance value of doing so. Much to everyone's and America's loss, he lost his life at about the same time as this book was published, but he left us with a superb work based on his legal experiences and his long-time service as a federal district judge in Seattle.

A Good Intro to the Jury System.......2002-02-16

Judge Dwyer shows a great respect and insight into the importance of the jury system to maintaining democratic government and liberty in America. In spite of some areas where he has accepted conventional wisdom instead of actually researching the issues involved (such as where he accepts the myth that racist jury nullification was widespread during the civil rights era. The best researched work on this is in Clay S. Conrad's book Jury Nullification: The Evolution of a Doctrine, in which he shows that most of the acquittals in lynching and civil rights murder cases were due to prosecutors, judges and police being unwilling to pursue such cases to conviction, and not to the actions of jurors) the book is an excellent exposition of the importance of trial by jury.

The real question should be: does anyone care? Trial by jury continues to fall into disfavor with a population that doesn't want to do the heavy lifting on its own. Should we depend on government to do the heavy lifting for us, we shouldn't be surprised that our most important rights atrophy and die. The opposite of trial by jury (also known as trial by one's country) is trial by government. So long as we have a panel of citizens acting as a bulwark between us and our government, we have some protection against government excess and oppression. This is the lesson from history that Judge Dwyer colorfully and dramatically brings home.

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