Everyone would like to think our schools are financed equitably and effectively, but failure to make sure that happens has led to numerous court challenges. Anna Lukemeyer, a UNLV professor of public administration since 1999, took a particular interest in those legal challenges and, knowing that social scientists had conducted considerable research on school funding, wanted to see how much their findings were shared with the lawyers and judges involved in the litigation.

"School finance reform lawsuits challenge disparities in the educational resources that are available to students in different school districts," she explains. "The differences can be quite large, and reformers have been bringing constitutional challenges based on this inequality and the inadequacy of resources available to students in poor districts since the 1960s.

"Social science researchers had found good evidence that school spending appeared different (for instance, more equal) in states experiencing successful school finance reform lawsuits," says Lukemeyer, who has a law degree as well as a Ph.D. "While social scientists clearly understood these suits to be an important factor in school finance, many lacked the legal background to understand the nuances of this litigation. This, I felt, hindered their ability to explore fully the impact of these cases."

At the same time, lawyers and judges did not always appreciate the policy issues implicated in the litigation.

Readers may be surprised, Lukemeyer says, to discover how complex, diverse, and extensive school finance reform litigation is. "Forty-five states have experienced these suits," she says. "Nevada is one of the five states that has not had a suit."