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Legislating Accountability: Standards, Sanctions, And School District Reform , Aaron J. Saiger
Legislating Accountability: Standards, Sanctions, And School District Reform , Aaron J. Saiger
Faculty Scholarship
The “New Accountability” movement in American education purports to catalyze improvement in American education by setting clear state standards for academic performance, measuring performance against those standards, and disseminating information about results. This Article argues that the potential of state accountability programs lies not in their imposition of standards but in their imposition of a sanction - the disestablishment of school districts, which entails unseating the local superintendent and school board and replacing them with state officials or their designees - that is extremely painful for the targeted district but is also painful for states to impose. The first Part …
Disestablishing Local School Districts As A Remedy For Educational Inadequacy Note, Aaron J. Saiger
Disestablishing Local School Districts As A Remedy For Educational Inadequacy Note, Aaron J. Saiger
Faculty Scholarship
Most state constitutions recognize a right to education, but courts have been hard pressed to respond to violations of that right. Some state courts have imposed financial and substantive reforms, only to see their implementation miscarry as educational deficiencies stubbornly persist. Other state courts, fearing such outcomes, instead treat education claims as nonjusticiable political questions; in these states, public education is a right with no remedy. This Note argues that courts should instead base remedies on state statutes that permit states to disestablish-i.e., to withdraw authority from-deficient school districts. Disestablishment, like other structural remedies, is largely self-implementing and avoids judicial …