In 1971, the State of California Supreme Court ruled in Serrano v. Priest that t
ID: 430652 • Letter: I
Question
In 1971, the State of California Supreme Court ruled in Serrano v. Priest that the state government must break the relationship between a district's property tax wealth per pupil and its educational expenditure, which means the local government may administer the property tax, but the funds must go into a statewide pool. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez did not extend the Serrano decision to the national level. Do you think this was mistake? Why or why not?
Explanation / Answer
It was not a mistake.
The decision in Serrano v. Priest was made considering that the every district in the state must have equal opportunity. Now in order to understand the case we also need to understand that the public schools are funded by the tax paid the citizens and businesses. In a particular state, every citizen has the similar tax bracket with slight variation between jurisdictions. Thus the decision to provide equality of education to everyone within the state is rational.
On the other hand the states in USA have different tax systems. Naturally this means that the standard of living and opportunities provided in each of states are different. Due to this nature, the taxation rates too vary drastically when compared. While the matter of equality can be imposed, it will not be justice to put every state in the same bracket.
This is why the decision made by California Supreme Court in 1971 was not followed by decision of USA Supreme Court in 1973. The jurisdiction of California Supreme Court was contained within the state, while the decision of USA Supreme Court was for the nation.