The Region and Taxation: School Finance, Cities, and the Hope for Regional Reform

Regional fragmentation in metropolitan governance produces fiscal inequalities through competition among local entities for tax revenue and high-income residents. Orfield examines how horizontal fragmentation of local governments—cities, school districts, counties, and special districts—creates jurisdictional competition that harms regional citizens through fiscal zoning and land use decisions. Cities compete to maximize tax bases by encouraging commercial and industrial property development while discouraging lower-income housing, creating spatial and fiscal inequality. School finance reform has relied on state equalization, but local competition and property tax limitations persist in creating disparities. Orfield traces school finance reform in Kentucky and Michigan, showing how plaintiffs successfully challenged funding inequities through adequacy claims rather than pure equity arguments. Regional reform requires coalition-building combining school equity advocates with municipal finance reformers. Orfield argues that collaboration to address school and municipal equity can simultaneously advance regional land-use planning and governance, breaking the dynamic of growing spatial and fiscal inequality in metropolitan areas.

Topics: Tax Law · Federalism

Keywords: school finance · regional governance · fiscal zoning · property tax · educational equity · metropolitan fragmentation