The political environment that surrounds the school system was not something that I understood or even cared to understand. My studies alone were too difficult and time-consuming. Albeit, eventually in my twelfth grade English class we had an ethical discussion over the issue of wealthier neighborhoods leaving school districts and also taking with them their property taxes. This issue brought to my knowledge how public schools were funded and also how easily they could be defunded under our present system. I believe this issue of wealthier neighborhoods being able to leave a school district legally is something that can and will be fatal to many schools with a minority base.
Caleb Atwater lobbied the legislature to establish a common public schooling system. One of his reasons for this was to “civilize” the western territories and of course, to educate the young, whose parents relied on the few schools they were lucky to find. As a result, his proposition was widely popular with the general public and the legislature was compelled to enact this
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These schools had to be paid from out of pocket and for many settlers, the schools were simply hard to come by. That all changed when Ohio was given a public education system and a proper way to fund it through property taxes. Or was it? Reflecting back on the issue I made of wealthy neighborhoods leaving poorer districts: I believe the system we have now makes it easier for the rich to get richer. I am not disagreeing with the principle of property taxation for funding public education, but what must be changed is the method in which entire neighborhoods can just leave a district legally and the locality of the taxation itself. I believe neighborhoods should be required to remain in their respective districts and not allowed to create their own based on a complaint of poorer