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''DeRolph v. State'' was a landmark case in Ohio constitutional law in which the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the state's method for funding public education was unconstitutional. Handed down on March 24, 1997, the 4-3 opinion said that the state funding system "fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools," as required by the Ohio Constitution, and directed the state to find a remedy.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 The DeRolph Decision and Educational Adequacy )〕 The court would look at the case several times over the next 12 years before it relinquished jurisdiction, but the underlying problems with the school funding system remain to this day.〔 ==Background== Following Ohio's 1851 constitutional convention, voters approved a new constitution that included provisions requiring a "thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State." Historically, Ohio's public schools have been funded with a combination of local property tax revenue and money from the state.〔 〕 This led to disparities in the quality of education in more affluent districts, where high property values led to greater funding, and urban and rural districts,〔 where low property values left students with funding shortfalls and dilapidated facilities. Funding became even more difficult for districts in 1976, when House Bill 920 went into effect, essentially freezing the revenue from property taxes. A millage tax would usually generate more revenue as the value of property in a district increased, but HB 920 required county auditors to cut the tax rate to bring in the same amount of revenue each year. Even as inflation increased costs for schools, their revenue could not keep up, which forced them to ask voters to approve new levies every few years.〔 Over the next 30 years, the state's school districts would send nearly 10,000 levies to the ballot. Voters grew weary of the constant campaigns, and unaware of the intricacies of the funding scheme, they often questioned why schools were constantly running out of money.〔 〕 Districts in both poor and affluent areas found the funding system unsustainable, and in 1988, superintendents from districts in underfunded areas in southeast Ohio formed the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools to work together to address the problem. Lacking the funding to mount a serious legal challenge, they invited districts from around the state to join a new coalition: The Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding. The coalition, a council of governments representing nearly every school district in the state, was formed in 1991. It filed a complaint in the Perry County Court of Common Pleas on December 19, 1991, on behalf of Nathan DeRolph, a 15-year-old freshman at Sheridan High School and 550 school districts in the state.〔 Represented by Bricker & Eckler LLP, the coalition named the state, the Ohio Board of Education, its superintendent, and the Ohio Department of Education as plaintiffs in the suit, which alleged that the funding system did not meet the constitutional standard for thoroughness or efficiency and presented an exhaustive body of evidence demonstrating that the system produced unequal, inefficient, and inadequate results. The allegations went mostly unchallenged by the state, which in fact produced its own witnesses to testify to the inadequacy of the funding system.〔 Held at the Perry County Courthouse in New Lexington,〔Thrane, Susan W. ''County Courthouses of Ohio''. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2000, 119.〕 the case produced a 30-day trial, a transcript more than 5,600 pages long and 450 exhibits before the trial judge, Linton D. Lewis, Jr., ruled on July 1, 1994 that Ohioans had a fundamental right to a state-funded education and that the state’s system for providing that education was unconstitutional. Furthermore, he ordered the board of education to devise a means for the General Assembly to eliminate wealth-based disparities in education.〔 Although the board voted not to appeal, the attorney general’s office, which represents the state, filed a notice of appeal to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, based in Canton.〔 The appeals court’s 2-1 decision, handed down on August 30, 1995, held that a previous ruling by the state supreme court permitted disparities in education if the state provided for a basic education.〔 〕 Two months later, the coalition appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「DeRolph v. State」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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