New Jersey's Abbott districts (31 of 500+) were given essentially unlimited spending capacity—merely needing to ask the court for more money for a given purpose—with court cases dictating preschool provision and class sizes; qualification required both large concentrations of poor kids and historically low achievement, perversely rewarding poor performance with unlimited funds.
factualpending
Speaker
Eric HanushekEvidence Quote
“if you do badly enough we'll give you unlimited funds”
Source
Eric Hanushek on Test-based Accountability, Federal Funding, and School Finance 08/10/2009— EconTalkCreated: 6/17/2026, 10:09:24 AM
My Notes
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