Begins with educational reforms from the Progressive era in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the civil rights movement and ending with Pennsylvania's 2004 tax relief measure. This title explores what factors determine education spending levels in school districts.

The essence of democracy is popular sovereignty. The people rule. In the United States, citizens exercise this right through elected officials that they believe will best represent their own values and interests. But are those interests and values always being followed? Authors Michael B. Berkman and Eric Plutzer provide the first systematic examination of the extent to which the governments closest to the American public-its 10,000-plus local school boards-respond to the wishes of the majority.