Download or read book Building a Sustained School Facilities Remedy written by Molly A. Hunter and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over ten years, the State of Arizona has implemented an innovative statewide process for financing and building school facilities and purchasing other capital items for its schools. Spawned by an education quality lawsuit, the 1998 Students FIRST Act established the School Facilities Board, which succeeded in helping rural, suburban, and urban communities build and improve their school buildings. This was no small task because Arizona has been one of the fastest growing states in the nation during these years. In a state whose population increased from 5.1 to 6.5 million people from 2000 to 2008, the growing number of school-aged children fueled construction at the average rate of 35 new schools every year. This article briefly recounts the education quality litigation and remedy that led to a novel standards-based school facilities boon in Arizona. It documents the subsequent years of implementation, including standards setting, financing, assessment, deficiency corrections, and related initiatives. Weaknesses that have emerged in the remedy--primarily underfunding--are also summarized. Finally, this article considers the success of the Arizona education quality litigation and its remedy by applying the "successful-remedies model" postulated by Michael A. Rebell in his book, "Courts and Kids: Pursuing Educational Equity Through the State Courts." Using this framework facilitates analysis of the Arizona experience as to the role of the courts and examination of the impact of the state's changes to facilities financing and decision making on standards, funding, accountability, public involvement, and student performance. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 92 footnotes.).