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Administrative Law Keyed to Lawson
Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. Department of Education
Citation:
550 U.S. 81, 127 S.Ct. 1534, 167 L.Ed.2d 449 (2007)Facts
The Impact Aid program provides federal funding to local school districts whose ability to finance education is adversely affected by federal activities, such as the presence of military bases or Native American reservations. The statute allows states to reduce state aid to such districts if the Secretary of Education certifies that the state “equalizes” expenditures among districts. To determine equalization, the statute directs the Secretary to “disregard” school districts with per-pupil expenditures above the 95th or below the 5th percentile. The Department of Education interpreted this to mean ranking districts by per-pupil expenditures, then removing districts at the extremes before calculating the disparity. The plaintiff school districts argued that the statute required ranking districts by population, then removing districts that contained 5% of the student population from each end.
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