In 1981, when Raymond Abbott was a twelve-year-old   sixth-grader in Camden, New Jersey, poor city school districts like his   spent 25 percent less per student than the state's wealthy suburbs did.   That year, Abbott became the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit   demanding that the state provide equal funding for all schools. Over the   next twenty-five years, as the non-profit law firm representing the   plaintiffs won ruling after ruling from the New Jersey Supreme Court,   Abbott dropped out of school, fought a cocaine addiction, and spent time in   prison before turning his life around.    Raymond Abbott's is just one of the many human stories that have too   often been forgotten in the policy battles New Jersey has waged for two   generations over equal funding for rich and poor schools. Other People's   Children, the first book to tell the story of this decades-long school   funding battle, interweaves the public story--an account of legal and   political wrangling over laws and money--with the private stories of the   inner-city children who were named plaintiffs in the state's two school   funding lawsuits, Robinson v. Cahill and Abbott v. Burke. Although these   cases have shaped New Jersey's fiscal and political landscape since the   1970s, most recently in legislative arguments over tax reform, the debate   has often been too abstract and technical for most citizens to understand.   Written in an accessible style and based on dozens of interviews with   lawyers, politicians, and the plaintiffs themselves, Other People's   Children crystallizes the arguments and clarifies the issues for general   readers.      Beyond its implications for New Jersey, this book is an important   contribution to the conversations taking place in all states about the   nation's responsibility for its poor, and the role of public schools in   providing equal opportunities and promising upward mobility for   hard-working citizens, regardless of race or class.

Other People's Children: The Battle for Justice and Equality in New Jersey's Schools PDF

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