Law Commons^™

Litigated Learning, Law's Limits, And Urban School Reform Challenges, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article assesses the likely efficacy of litigation efforts seeking to enhance equal educational opportunity by improving student academic achievement in the nation's urban public schools. Past education reform litigation efforts focusing on school desegregation and finance met with mixed success. Current litigation efforts seeking to improve student academic achievement promise to be even less successful because student academic achievement involves variables and activities located further from the reach of litigation than such variables as a school's racial composition and per pupil spending levels. Moreover, efforts to improve student achievement in the nation's urban public schools--especially high poverty schools--face additional …

No Lawsuit Left Behind, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Are Single-Sex Schools Inherently Unequal?, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Educational Jujitsu: How School Finance Lawyers Learned To Turn Standards And Accountability Into Dollars, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Courts, Educational Policy, And Unintended Consequences, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Recent school finance litigation illustrates yet again how law can generate unintended policy consequences. Seeking to improve student achievement and school accountability, more states now turn to educational standards and assessments. At the same time, a multi-decade school finance litigation effort develops and changes its theoretical base. Recently, educational standards and school finance litigation converged in a way that enables school districts to gain financially from their inability to meet desired achievement levels. Specifically, courts increasingly allow litigants and lawsuits to transform standards and assessments into constitutional entitlements to additional resources. As a consequence, increased legal and financial exposure for …

Equal Educational Opportunity And Constitutional Theory: Preliminary Thoughts On The Role Of School Choice And The Autonomy Principle, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Inadequate schools impede America's long-standing quest for greater equal educational opportunity. The equal educational opportunity doctrine, traditionally moored in terms of race, has expanded to include notions of educational adequacy. Educational adequacy is frequently construed in terms of educational spending and framed in terms largely incident to constitutional litigation.

This paper explores the potential intersections of the school choice and school finance movements, particularly as they relate to litigation and policy. The paper argues that school choice policies constitute a viable remedy for successful school finance litigation and form a remedy that simultaneously advances individual autonomy, one critical constitutional principle.

Schoolhouses, Courthouses, And Statehouses: Educational Finance, Constitutional Structure, And The Separation Of Powers Doctrine, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Equal Educational Opportunity, Hollow Victories, And The Demise Of School Finance Equity Theory: An Empirical Perspective And Alternative Explanation, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Professor Heise reports findings from his on-going empirical study of judicial impact in the school finance context. The study employs interrupted time series analyses to explore the independent effect of successful school finance equity court decisions on two key outcome variables, centralization and total educational spending levels. The results cast some doubt about long-held assumptions regarding the efficacy of court decisions. The author argues that the results also uncover important clues that help explain the recent fundamental shift in school finance litigation theory from equity to adequacy.

Assessing The Efficacy Of School Desegregation, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

State Constitutional Litigation, Educational Finance, And Legal Impact: An Empirical Analysis, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Court Vs. Educational Standards, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Goals 2000: Educate America Act: The Federalization And Legalization Of Educational Policy, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Funds, Private Schools, And The Court: Legal Issues And Policy Consequences, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Empirical And Constitutional Analysis Of Racial Ceilings And Public Schools, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.