The Courts’ Consensus: Money Does Matter for Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Over the half century since the Coleman Report was issued, there has been an extensive debate among scholars, policy-makers, and the courts about the extent to which “money matters” in education. This article briefly reviews the relevant academic literature and then analyzes the forty state court education funding litigations that have considered whether there is a correlation between educational expenditures and improved student outcomes. I find that that there is now an overwhelming consensus that, of course, money matters—when it is used well. This result indicates that policy-makers and judges should shift from continuing a fruitless abstract discussion of whether money matters and concentrate instead on the significant accountability questions of what resources are needed to provide all students a meaningful educational opportunity and how these resources can best be used to maximize student success, especially for students from poverty backgrounds and students of color.