These schools are provided with school books, proper equipment, and sanitary conditions. The children of East St. Louis Senior High School, as well as other high schools in East St. Louis, are well aware of the existence of these schools and are obviously upset by the deplorable conditions of their own school. The next school that Kozol visits is Clark Junior High School. Kozol explains that the conditions of these schools are managed by state funding, and the governor of Missouri does not want to keep “dumping money” into the school district and believes that he cannot help a school district that will not help themselves. The children of these schools, however, realize that the money that funds their schools and the money that funds other schools in the state is very different.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, most the US education funds comes from state and local government, approximately 93% (PBS, 2008). The federal government only shares a little of responsibility on education funds. In most states, the taxes are collected in different forms, property tax, sales tax, corporation tax and personal tax. Because of this system, it leads some states to an inequitable allocation of tax to fund schools. Poor places like East St. Louis that Kozol described in his book, tax itself on a very high tax rate, the local government couldn’t provide adequate fund into their school system.
The excerpt from the story “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a story of Triumph, and yet in such a melancholy way. I am glad that Lieutenant Cross was able to overcome his daydreaming and lead his men, yet at what cost. The lot of all the men outlined in his platoon seems a grim one. O’Brien sets the story in Vietnam, though this is not explicitly mentioned, the characters surroundings, the equipment they and their enemies possess, and the names of the cities make this evident. The setting is absolutely pertinent to the story.
San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez case. Texas public primary and secondary schools rely on local property taxes for supplemental income. These schools are designed to establish a minimum education threshold at each school. The San Antonio District in the representation of families residing in poor districts challenged this funding scheme by arguing that students were disadvantaged because their schools lacked the property used by other districts, and academic programs receiving government funding should favor all students equally. Having already talked the facts of the San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, I would like to discuss how this has been another topic of much attention within the Department of Education of different districts.
The difference between public and private schools is that money is given different and the public schools follow a set curriculum while private schools can do what they want. Private schools get money from grants, donations and fund raisers
By giving parents the ability to use their children’s share of public Education funding to choose the right school for their children has also improved the schools performance in response to competition created by parents’ ability to choose alternative schools for their children. Adequacy
Diane Ravitch, in her book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (2013), takes on the privatization movement that has been limiting public school funding and straining the education of students across the nation. She highlights different issues and solutions with each chapter, most of which are issues that we all have faced throughout our lifetimes whether we knew it or not. In chapter twenty-one of her book, “Solutions: Start Here,” she addresses the fact that if poverty and educational equality are issues worth taking on, it must be taken seriously and backed by two intentions: changing society as a whole and improving schools and the educational system at the same time.
This ruling implies that those ineligible for this program are unable to be coerced into attending a private school that is affiliated to a religion. Families higher up the socioeconomic ladder would be more capable of educating themselves on religious private schools versus non-religious private schools versus public schools in the Cleveland City School District, thus they could not be coerced. The idea of hierarchy discussed in class applies here as the privileged group has greater access to resources (better schools; more money) and have in the past unintentionally prevented oppressed people from gaining access to the same schools before the program was put in place (Mulder, 2015). Additionally, the ruling’s non-target group does not have to rely on government assistance to make decisions, thus they are privileged because this capability is something of value being denied to lower SES families. Based on class lectures, it is clear that the privileged have access to the best schools.
A major issue in American politics today is the issue of school funding and how schools should be funded. In the current funding system for American public schools, nearly half of the funding comes from local property taxes. This causes disparity among schools in wealthier areas compared to poorer areas. The faults in this system has caused a large group of people to fight for equal funding in public schools to allow for fair and equal public schooling. In the article “Unfinished Business: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education”, written by William C. Hubbard, he states that “We have to stop tolerating separate and unequal schools in this country today, and we must reenergize public education in America through equitable funding.
For low-income families who would otherwise not be able to afford to put their child through a private education, proponents argue that this is about the “freedom to choose for your family and your child”.[5] There have been several positive results from the use of tax credits in vouchers in places like Milwaukee, Florida and even Sweden, but due to the rigid resistance to progressive reforms in Texas, we have not been as successful in adopting these new
After reading chapter 26 I learned that charter schools should collaborate with public schools to support better education for students. Charters schools enroll a small number of English Learners and students with disabilities, in order for the parents to believe that those are better schools. Charters schools take funding from public schools because parents transfer their children to charter schools. Charters schools also suspend and kick out students who they believe will not help the school get high test scores and thus, not get money. Charter schools treat their students as a business, a way for them to make money and they discriminate those students who they believe won’t make them money.
Of the $10 Billion in assets that the system controls, it has needed to sell investments simply to pay the teachers. It is spitting out much more than it is taken it. In 2013, the Chicago Public School system flipped. It now had more people that were receiving benefits from the fund than there were people paying into the fund.
Basing school funding on property tax leads to unequal opportunities and environments for students, even though the government may claim it is not up to them, there needs to be a drastic change. Currently, taxes collected from the surrounding communities fund public school districts. Public schools get financed mainly by the property tax of the surrounding houses. “Resources available to school districts relied heavily on local property wealth, and property wealth per pupil varied greatly, as it continues today”
Despite the contrasting environment, private school students are no different than public school students. In an online manifesto, If You Send Your Kid to Private school you are bad, Allison Benedikt, an executive editor states, “But many others go private for religious reasons, or because their kids have behavioral or learning issues, or simply because the public school in their district is not so hot”. This proves that private schools are not filled with angels, but rather kids who have behavioral issues and need that extra help. In senior writer and editor John S Kiernan’s, online article, Private Schools vs. Public Schools - Experts Weigh In, Patrick J. Wolf, Ph.D, proclaims, “Private schools also are becoming more diverse, as their enrollments increasingly include minority and low-income students”. Similar to a public school, private schooling have their low, medium and upper class students.
There is a lot of benefits from increasing public school funding. Also, there are also negative aspects of this situation. “25% of taxpayers money goes to education” (policy basis , 5) .Taking more of tax payers money