The aim of this research was to investigate one particular state's efforts to reform a substantially unequal educational environment through legislative efforts designed to improve funding equity and adequacy across school districts. The state is Vermont, and the legislation is titled Act 68 An Act Relating to Education. Act 68 was passed by the Vermont State Legislature in February of 2004. Act 68 followed the controversial and politically charged legislation passed in 1997 titled Act 60 Equal Educational Opportunity Act. Now in the third year of implementation, data is starting to emerge which will begin to address the question as to whether this school funding vehicle is having the desired effect of creating an equitable and adequate system of public education in the state of Vermont. The purpose of this study was to examine Vermont's experience with statutory changes to the state school finance formula with the aims of informing the broader debate in states grappling with the issue of equity and adequacy promulgated or inhibited by various school finance legislation.

Spending on K-12 education across the United States and across local school districts has long been characterized by great disparities--disparities that reflect differences in property wealth and tax rates. For more than a quarter-century, reformers have attempted to reduce these differences through court challenges and legislative action. As part of a broad study of education finance, the committee commissioned eight papers examining the history and consequences of school finance reform undertaken in the name of equity and adequacy. This thought-provoking, timely collection of papers explores such topics as: What do the terms "equity" and "adequacy" in school finance really mean? How are these terms relevant to the politics and litigation of school finance reform? What is the impact of court-ordered school finance reform on spending disparities? How do school districts use money from finance reform? What policy options are available to states facing new challenges from court decisions mandating adequacy in school finance? When measuring adequacy, how do you consider differences in student needs and regional costs?

In this timely work, Jane Fowler Morse reviews the history of school finance litigation in the United States and then examines recent legal and political struggles to obtain equitable school funding in New York, Vermont, and Ontario. These three places have employed strikingly different strategies to address this issue, and Morse analyzes lessons learned at each that will benefit both public officials and citizens interested in seeking reform elsewhere. Drawing on writers from Aristotle to Cass Sunstein and Martin Luther King Jr., she also explores the concepts of social justice and equity, highlighting the connections between racism, poverty, and school funding. The result is a passionate plea for equitable funding of public education nationwide to instantiate the ideal of "liberty and justice for all."