From Business to Finance to Law: An Expression of Concern for Common Schools

Abstract This reflective essay recounts a period of time when school finance and law research emphasized the central core of statewide funding for common schools. A brief survey of articles appearing in the flagship Journal of Education Finance demonstrates that less than seven percent of research capacity brings to light the status and need for centralized government common school funding. This observation is a source of concern for the sustainability of common schools for the common good. For if there is no scholarly press for statewide school funding, what will fuel economic, political, and legal thrusts to fund common schools? The observation and question are particularly important in this era of defunding traditional public school systems. Collateral damage caused by school choice options is noted as well as the extension of micro market theory to local schooling communities. A conceptualization of the commodification of residential real estate is also introduced. Understanding micro markets and the commodification of residential real estate are important because when pullbacks in central government funding occur, financial burdens increase locally where residential property valuation and ownership are proxies for common school economic and political support.