Serrano v. Priest

California maintained a public-school-financing system that depended substantially on local property taxes. On an aggregated level, school revenues came from the following sources: 55.7 percent from local property taxes, 35.5 percent from state aid, 6.1 percent from federal funds, and 2.7 percent from miscellaneous sources. Under the state constitution, local governing bodies levied real property taxes; property across the state varied widely in value, from $103 to $952,156. Residents within a district could also agree to tax themselves more to increase school revenues. The purpose of state aid was generally to ensure that school districts would receive a certain minimal amount of support per student, e.g., at least $355 per elementary-school student. Of the $355, $125 was a flat amount that went to a school regardless of the district’s wealth. The remaining amount of state aid was in the form of “equalization,” which was distributed inversely to district wealth. Due to the wide variations in property values, there were wide differentials in the amount of revenue available to individual districts. For instance, the Baldwin Park Unified School District spent about $577 to educate each pupil, while Beverly Hills Unified School District spent about $1,232 per pupil. A group of Los Angeles County children and parents (collectively, the children) (plaintiffs), representing others, sued state and county officials (defendants), alleging that the financing system denied the children equal protection under the law. The trial court dismissed the complaint at the pleading stage. The children appealed.