Persuasive Essay On Public Education

Public education is the largest expenditure of state and local governments in the United States, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all expenditures (Moser & Rubenstein 2002). The federal government has enacted many laws to try and bring about equality in educational funding dating back to 1960’s that include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Moser & Rubenstein 2002). Court cases have been brought before the supreme court in 19 states and all have invalidated their states funding for public school ( Moser & Rubenstein 2002). The supreme courts have rules that a child’s education should not be dependent on the wealth of their parent or the wealth of the

While improvements in state funding continue to focus on improving equality across school districts, there is still little work being done to investigate equality in school spending on a national level. This can impart be explained because equality in school spending is relative and not an absolute concept. Since spending from state to state can vary based on factors not directly linked to the school and educational quality it can be difficult to define educational equality on the national level. Relatively new to the educational spectrum are Online Charter Schools. Charter schools can be founded or operated with the assistance of both private and for-profit or nonprofit resources. Of the 11 charter schools operating within Pennsylvania there are currently three that are for profit ( Follow Money). Pennsylvania law dictates that public revenue for education must follow the student. This means if a child chooses to attend their home school district or a cyber charter school the tax money used to educate that individual will go to the school they attend. The school district of the student is responsible to provide payment to the charter school. This leads