School Funding
School funding is a very touchy subject that I think goes off topic when you begin to talk about it. Money is always a tricky subject because money ties into everything, and in the US money means power. The people who have the power have money and their children are attending well-funded schools, so they don’t see anything wrong with the system.
The article I read from the Online NewsHour described all the variations of schools we have in the United States. Public schools in this country are described as “meccas for affluent students and others into decaying infrastructures with overcrowded classrooms and soaring drop-out rates”. We allow this to happen because of how we set up the funding for public schools. Each states has its own laws about where the funding comes from and how much each school gets. This also various depending on the county, city or town you are in.
As a country, the United States spends the same amount per student on schooling as France. We are middle of the road when comparing to other similar countries. But if you compare each state to those same countries we range from high spending per student to very low expenditure per student. For instance, New Jersey spends twice as much per student as Utah (School Funding). This is the reason for huge differences between states and the overall quality of education in the US.
The funding for public schools in the US is comprised mostly by local property taxes of local residents. Therefore, the areas with the more expensive homes receive more funding for their school. Some states have tried to control this issue by creating a formula to equalize the school districts. But the people with money set up foundations and find loop holes to give their children’s schools more money.
In this country we need to make many changes in our public school system. School funding is just one of these issues. I believe that education has to become more of a national issue than it is.
Many citizens are fed up with the way that schools are funded, but nothing is being changed about it. People in California are concerned and nervous about the success of their schools but do not want to put more money into a system that is not working.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/backgrounders/school_funding.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-schools30-2009apr30,0,1938454.story
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I agree there is a great disparity in the way in which schools are funded. There needs to be a overhaul as to how schools are funded on the statewide and nation level. Students have the right to receive a quality education regardless of their economic situation. There should not be schools that have laptops for each students while others do not have enough textbooks for the student population. Now, I believe students need to have access to technology and other resources, but the resources need to be equal across the board; therefore the funding should reflect that point.
ReplyDeleteThere definitely needs to be a overhaul in how our schools get money. It just doesn't seem right that there is such a discrepancy between states for school funding. It seems to me that as a country we would want all of our students to be funded equally. But until our funding options are completely redone, that will never happen.
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