Equitable School Funding
Vincenzo Lo Cricchio
C Band AP Government
Mr. Alengakis
What does the Great Depression, World War II, and the United States Government have in common? Significant budget cuts on primary and secondary education. While more recently, the Federal Government has taken initiative to assist state government, such as the creation of the Department of Education, No Child Left Behind Act, and more recently Every Student Succeeds Act. It is not enough to provide equitable school funding for children of all different financial backgrounds and it is the job of the federal government to provide more equitable, not equal, funding to all public schools so every student has an equal opportunity for advancement.
Lack of funding in schools directly hurts a child’s education. With a lack of adequate funding for teacher, class size increase, which causes students to receive less attention and all in all hurts the students (Borosage). When teachers are forced to teach a large number of students, the only way to manage the number of students is by assigning the least amount of homework because they can only grade a certain amount of assignments and knowing everyone by a number rather than a person. Teachers are forced to give less attention to students and more to the classroom. Low performing schools consist of teacher who don’t have a lot of experience compared to high performing schools and as a result a quarter of students drop out of schools in America(Duncan). Testing also hurt student’s ability to learn because most of the funding is directed to purchasing tests (Borosage) because there is such an increased focus on the results of the tests, many teachers only focus on the tests and ignore the curriculum. When a teacher focuses more on tests, it forces students to believe that their future is determined by a digit. Students will want to drop out because they are forced to think that one test will determine their fate. Which is an absurd idea, that many students in America deal with, considering that these tests are only given one day of the school year and many students may not be good test takers. As a result, the students will drop out and then they will have a lower income, then their children will have a poor education, and the vicious cycle continues. Primary and secondary schools aim to get children college ready by using standardized testing as a measure, when colleges aim to have well rounded students. So why do primary and secondary schools focus more on testing than a well-rounded curriculum for the students? Forcing teacher to focus on a test rather than an education is what causes such an achievement gap between students of different income because low-income schools try to focus on test scores where high-income school are able to focus on education and test scores through more funding and more qualified teachers.
Spending on children’s education is more beneficial to society than most people think. Increased spending on early childhood education is linked to the reduction of “costs of drop outs, special education, and crime prevention” (Borosage). Also, investing in education is a good investment because the community gets their money back through the later achievements of the students (Bronstein and Mason) and a strong economy needs to have a good education system (Duncan). Increased per student spending is associated with a positive impact on students of all types of financial backgrounds (Gjaja). Students who have the resources and access to test prep, better teachers, and extracurricular activities do better in school and achieve in life because they know that they have the ability to do well in school and find hope and purpose in their school work. Giving students a good foundation in the early stages of education will allow them to have the ability to stay in school and do well. Investing in low performing schools will improve the outcomes for the students (Duncan). For example, George Hall Elementary in Mobile, Alabama, and Roxbury Prep in Boston were low performing schools, but with access to School Improvement Grants (SIG) they were able to go from the lowest performing school to one of the top performing schools (Duncan). Schools with more funding are allowed to have after-school program, Saturday programs, more music and art classes, tutoring time, more professional development, and an endless number of other things all which improve the quality of education in the classroom. According to a study conducted by Brian Hoyle, people who have a doctor’s degree out of all other educational attainment earned the highest income of a median of $55,674 whereas people who completed less than 9th grade earned a median of $12,217. Females who completed with some form of college earned more than people who just completed high school by at least $3,222. The study clearly shows the direct correlation between education and income. The only way for one to complete school and live a better life is to have the proper funding so they have the resources to accomplish their goals.
School districts get their money from local government, state government, and the federal government. However, ninety percent of funding comes from the state and local government (Bronstein and Mason) and the local government gets their money from property tax. The problem with property tax is that areas with low-income family have low property taxes, meaning the school won’t get the adequate funding that they need whereas high-income neighborhood have more money to give to the schools through taxes. This itself is a major form of discrimination (Bronstein and Mason). It is stated in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka that segregation in public schools is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling said, that separate but equal is not equal. Therefore, having public schools being separated by funding based on property tax is not equal. Also, having property tax making up a large portion of school funding is an example of redlining because low-income families are indirectly forced to attend their local public schools with poor funding. No child should have to travel far to get a good education whereas people from a rich neighborhood are entitled to a public school with better funding. Property Taxes denies schools the right to have proper funding, which is a deliberate act of redlining and discrimination. Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. The State of New York ruled that New York state has to properly fund the schools because it is so deficient and “state school funding system has an adverse and disparate impact on minority public school children." That more funding is needed to lift public school from their “current abysmal state” (“HIGHLIGHT FROM RULING”). School districts cannot solely rely on the property tax and other state and local funding because it is not adequate enough nor fair. Therefore, the federal government must step in and aid all schools so every child gets an equitable education because most states don’t allocate their funding equitable (Gjaja).
The Federal Government is not responsible for education as that is a state right. However, when the state government isn’t doing its best to give every child a proper and fair education, it becomes the job of the government to “protect the most disadvantaged students in the face of longstanding inequities.” (Sargrad). If the federal government makes it a priority to stop communism miles away from America, why should it neglect low-income and minority students from receiving an insufficient education? America cannot make issues aboard more of a priority than domestic issues. Also, most of the areas with low achievement rates are places with the highest minority population, so when the local council tries to get more funding, prejudice does play a role and makes it harder for change to occur (Bronstein and Mason). “Not surprisingly, these cuts fall hardest on the poorest districts that can't afford to make up for them the way more affluent districts can. The kids who have the greatest need for public education are suffering the deepest cuts” (Borosage). The federal government should help provide funding because without their help, the states won’t help which forces students who are already too poor for tutors and private classes to get a free quality education. For example, current Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City started the universal Pre-K initiative to promote equitable education which included having all teachers having certificated specialization in early childhood (“New York City”). Bill de Blasio understands the inequality, families face as some can afford for pre-k while other need to arrange some informal arrangement with family members so with universal pre-k, it allows all students to achieve a proper education. Bill de Blasio is fighting the inequality by making sure all teachers are properly certificated because education is a human right, not a privilege.
The federal government has spent enough money already, all with limited success. The reason for that is because most school districts like to spend the extra aid on school administration positions rather than teacher and resources for students (Burke). With all the money being provided to the schools, it is hard for students to do well when they have to earn the money such as adapting to the common core. By giving money to schools if they adopt the common core standards, schools are then forced to use that money in more professional development to train the teacher rather than the classroom. Also, as seen in New York State, certain grades were forced to take the same exam twice, one of the previous standards, and another one to the common core standards. For example, kids born in 1999 or 2000 in New York had to take the Common Core Algebra regent along with the Integrated Algebra Regent. As a result, most of the funding that was just received has to be used to purchase exams. Federal funds earned by adapting to standards, forces teacher to spend more time learning and adapting to a new curriculum than teaching to the best of their ability. Yes, the federal government is providing a lot resources to state government, but the federal government should provide more formula grants than block grants so states will be forced to distribute the money in an equitable way determined by a formula provided by the legislative branch rather than block grants in which the state can incorrectly allocate it. The reason for the limited success is due to all the strings attached to these grants.
“Equity should require that every student receives sufficient resources to have the same chance to succeed, rather than that every child gets the same level of funding. Unfortunately, many states are far from achieving even the same level of funding for students at different incomes” (Gjaja). As seen in the image on the cover page, equal is not the same as equity, and to have equality you need equity. Lack of funding hurts students in the long run and without funding to schools with a majority of low-income students, students are more likely to live the life of poverty in their adulthood and so would their children and the cycle repeats again. But the cycle does not need to repeat again if we provide every student the same chance to achieve great things. Spending more on children will decrease the achievement gap and provide more help for the community. With the federal government increased control over funding, they can ensure that the money is given equitably so that every student can succeed and no child gets left behind. People who are pro-life argue that abortion could be killing a future world-renowned scientist, but inequitable funding could be having a potential world-renowned scientist working at McDonald because it was never given a chance to succeed.
Work Cited
Borosage, Robert L. "Federal Spending on Education Should Not Be Cut." Education, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010129419/OVIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid= 3df4b016. Accessed 4 Nov. 2017. Originally published as "Sending Kids the Bill for the Mess Left by Wall Street," Huffington Post, 13 Oct. 2011.
Spending on education is important because it reduces the class size, which benefits the students. Investing in children, is beneficial because future costs can be prevented such as special education and crime prevention. The problem with the current spending on education is that it is mostly spent on buying tests.
Bronstein, Laura R., and Susan E. Mason. School-Linked Services. Columbia University Press, 2016.
Most of the funding for schools comes from state and local government. The government, mostly gets their funding from tax, however low-income areas have less tax so the schools don’t receive as much funding as a high-income area. Investing in education is important because the community gets their money back in the future. To not provide adequate education is discrimination and Brown v. Board of Ed clearly states how schools cannot discriminate.
Burke, Lindsey M. "Federal Spending on Education Should Be Limited." School Reform, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010692240/OVIC?u=
nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=c114c7ca. Accessed 4 Nov. 2017. Originally published as "How Escalating Education Spending Is Killing Crucial Reform," Backgrounder, 15 Oct. 2012.
The government has already spent enough money into education with limited success because most of the money goes to non-teaching jobs. The student-teacher ratio, which is important to a child’s learning, has decreased over the last 5 years. The best way to deal with education is to give full powers to the state and to have a new way to compensate teachers.
Duncan, Arne. "Increased School Funding Improves Student Performance and Quality of Education." School Funding, edited by Lynn Zott, Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/
EJ3010770206/OVIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=73eeb3ad. Accessed 4 Nov. 2017. Originally published as "The Quiet Revolution: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the National Press Club," US Department of Education, 2010.
Education is what will determine the economy in the future. Teacher are too focused on testing than teaching. Increased funding to low performing schools does increase the outcome of the students. The reason for many students dropping out is because on inexperienced teachers. Inexperienced teachers are usually placed in low performing schools.
Gjaja, Marin, et al. "Government Spending on Education Needs to Be More Equitable." School Reform, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010692241/
OVIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=1ac92094. Accessed 4 Nov. 2017. Originally published as "When It Comes to School Funding, Equity Is the Key," Education Week, vol. 33, 19 Feb. 2014.
Increased per pupil spending is linked with a positive outcome in test scores. States are not allocating their resources properly. Equity means that everyone has the resources to do well, but many states fail to understand that.
"HIGHLIGHTS OF RULING." New York Post [New York, NY], 11 Jan. 2001, p. 04. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A71718972/OVIC?u=
nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=ba3b947a. Accessed 24 Nov. 2017.
New York City schools are not providing enough funding to low-income schools and are violating the New York State constitution. The Campaign for Fiscal Equity sued the state for not providing adequate funding and the Campaign won. The inadequate funding directly hurts the students.
This article lacks to provide context to the event and only provides excerpts from the Supreme Court Justices Leland DeGrasse.
Hoyle, Brian. "Distribution of money income and median income of persons 25 years old and over, by educational attainment and sex, 2002." Careers and Occupations: Looking to the Future, 2006 ed., Gale, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2210068495/OVIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=1e5b828 2. Accessed 28 Nov. 2017.
The table has a row with educational attainment and the columns underneath indicate the range of income and under the rows list the percent distribution of females that earn that given income. Underneath all the percentages shows the median income of all the education attainment. They study does provide a disclaimer that all the number may not be perfect due to rounding. However, the title states that it will also provide sex as a factor, because currently it only shows females, but it fails to do so.
"New York City Mayor Goes All-In On Free Preschool." All Things Considered, 8 Sept. 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A429760508/OVIC?u=
nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=dbb53f99. Accessed 25 Nov. 2017.
This interviews between Mayor Bill de Blasio describes the background and reason for his new universal pre-k plan. The mayor describes the parameters of his program and how people are reacting to it of all different classes.
Sargrad, Scott. "The Feds Must Take Advantage of the ESSA and Fund Struggling Schools." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2017. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/QMMJLS224688006/OVIC?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&xid=8a 2e1ba9. Accessed 4 Nov. 2017. Originally published as "The Feds Can Fix School Funding," U.S. News & World Report, 6 May 2016.
The Federal Government needs to help the low-income students because it is their job to protect all the rights of the minority when the state and local government fail them.