Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1993
ISSN
0524-1111
Publisher
Boston Bar Association
Language
en-US
Abstract
The wisdom of promoting public education in the Commonwealth was recognized by the earliest settlers, the framers of the Constitution, and many subsequent legislatures, officials, educators and citizens. The opinions of the Department, the Secretary of Education, the Governor and various educators, contained in the stipulation, demonstrate that a policy of supporting public education is as important today as ever.2
The implementation of this policy goal by the Legislature and municipalities involves choices that are at the heart of representative government: how much public money to raise, how best to allocate the money among education and the many other public purposes that compete for public funds, and how to strike the balance between state and local control of the schools, so as to promote education. The decisions made through these processes have resulted in some success in raising educational expenditures over the past decade and providing a significant degree of equalization, but they have also resulted in relative shortcomings in some districts, which are detailed in the parties' stipulation. The question for the Court is what status our Constitution affords these decisions, made through democratic processes.
Recommended Citation
Mary Connaughton,
Defendants' Brief in the School Finance Case: McDuffy v. Robertson: An Excerpt and a Summary
,
in
37
Boston Bar Journal
18
(1993).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2412
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legislation Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons
