Educational Equality and Expenditure Equalization Orders: The Case of Hobson V. Hansen

The document is concerned with the equalization, within a 5 percent range of teacher expenditures per pupil among elementary schools in the District of Columbia School System. It takes the general attitude that the parties on both sides of the case recognize and subscribe to implicit objectives of this order: (1) elimination of discriminatory variation in the quality of schooling received, either by color or by income class, and (2) reduction in the amount of dispersion in schooling quality generally, even among children of the same racial and income groups. The major issue in this case would appear to be whether ordering equalization of teacher expenditures per pupil will in fact lead to, or even help move in the direction of, the attainment of these two objectives.