The origins of Buchanan's views on federalism, Chicago 1946–1947

Buchanan's first writings about federalism and fiscal justice were “'Federalism’: One Barrier to Labor Mobility” and “A Theory of Financial Balance in a Federal State,” two term papers that he wrote before his dissertation and that have never been discussed before. Studying them allows us to complete the recent literature on the origins of Buchanan's fiscal federalism. We show that most of Buchanan's ideas about fiscal equity were already in these works, and also that Buchanan made other claims and used other arguments – about mobility, for instance – that were absent from the dissertation but remained important to him for a long time. We also analyze these essays in the context in which Buchanan was at that time, namely the economics department of the University of Chicago. We show how Buchanan fed on, not to say was influenced by, the courses for which he wrote these essays. This allows us to shed new light on the role Theodore Schultz, D. Gale Johnson, Henry Simons, and Roy Blough, played at the beginning of Buchanan's career.

Lessons from State School Finance Inform a New Federal Right to Equal Access to a High-Quality Education

In this chapter, Carmel Martin and Ulrich Boser, along with their associates Meg Benner and Perpetual Baffour, examine five decades of state fiscal equity litigation and determine what lessons can be used to inform the development and enforcement of a federal right to education. They conclude that the federal government will need to go beyond simply requiring that education be a right. In other words, the federal government also will need to ensure that at-risk students receive additional resources and accountability mechanisms to ensure that the key ingredients to success are available regardless of students’ backgrounds or zip codes. The authors also explain why building political will for change is critical for impactful reform.

Conceptualising and enforcing the right to quality education for minorities and disadvantaged groups: reflections on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity litigation

This chapter examines how the focus on ensuring quality education for all can strengthen both the conceptualisation and enforcement of the right to education for minorities and disadvantaged groups, considering the Campaign for Fiscal Equity litigation in the New York State courts as a case study. The Campaign for Fiscal Equity litigation, which dealt with the constitutionality of New York State's education financing scheme, clearly demonstrates the strategic value that a human rights-based assessment of quality holds for ensuring equality in education provision. While the plaintiffs' argument based on education equality failed, their successful claim based on education adequacy indirectly helped to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding to public schools in New York City. The litigation also shows the close link and challenges between the conceptualisation of the right to quality education and the court's role when enforcing it.