The school district boundary problem

AJ Saiger - Urb. Law., 2010 - HeinOnline
AJ Saiger
Urb. Law., 2010HeinOnline
MANY SCHOLARS IDENTIFY LOCAL EDUCATIONAL GOVERNANCE as a root cause of
inequality of educational opportunity in America. Advocates of educational reforms as
disparate as school choice and the regionalization of school districts seem to agree that
because localities are overwhelmingly stratified by race and class, localism causes inequity.
In a recent Article, I argued that this kind of inequity, arising from Tiebout sorting across
jurisdictions, can be mitigated without sacrificing the substantial benefits that attach to local …
MANY SCHOLARS IDENTIFY LOCAL EDUCATIONAL GOVERNANCE as a root cause of inequality of educational opportunity in America. Advocates of educational reforms as disparate as school choice and the regionalization of school districts seem to agree that because localities are overwhelmingly stratified by race and class, localism causes inequity. In a recent Article, I argued that this kind of inequity, arising from Tiebout sorting across jurisdictions, can be mitigated without sacrificing the substantial benefits that attach to local governance.'That Article proposed that local government boundaries be periodically redrawn to minimize interdistrict variance in wealth. 2 Between redrawings, localities would continue to make autonomous public goods decisions. 3 However, because local boundaries would react to accretions of wealth or poverty, existing residents would be substantially less able to choose, permanently, the characteristics of their neighbors.'Voice would be strengthened and exit weakened.
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