Ohio School-funding Suit Leaves Mark After 20 Years

COLUMBUS — Twenty years after the first decision in Ohio’s landmark school-funding lawsuit, hundreds of new school buildings dot the landscape and the notion of what constitutes an adequate education is regularly debated in U.S. state capitals. Experts say those are two of the most lasting impacts of DeRolph v. State, a lawsuit first decided on March 24, 1997, and revisited several times over 12 years before the high court eventually relinquished jurisdiction. Six years after high school freshman Nathan DeRolph filed his suit, justices ruled 4-3 that Ohio’s funding method failed to provide for the “thorough and efficient” system of public schools required by Ohio’s constitution. Here’s a look at the legacy of DeRolph two decades later: NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS A 1990 survey found that half of Ohio’s school buildings were at least 50 years old and 15 percent were 70 years old or older.