The fair / unfair distribution of school resources. In 2000, the ACLU filed suit (Williams et al. v. State of California et al.), claiming that the obligation of the state to provide all students with "basic educational necessities" was not fulfilled. One million of California's students are deprived of educational basics, such as qualified teachers, decent school facilities, and appropriate textbooks.

An important part of these problems are caused by the inadequacy of the school system funding in the state. Others are problems to be solved by individual school districts, since they are seen as a local management problem.

The new concept behind the reform of school finance of California is the "weighted student formula" or "student-based budgeting," which is believed to be a way to a more equitable and effective school funding system. Still, skeptics doubt that it the concept is applicable to California's 9,000 schools serving 6 million...
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