Controversial Decisions: Funds Spent on Education in New Jersey

The United States has many conflicts, one of them is funding on public education. Despite the fact that funding on public education will not help students succeed academically with the money provided to the schools, every school deserves to get as much money because students will receive more proper education and will be more successful students in the future.

Since last spring, Philadelphia school district leaders have been sounding the alarm about this year’s fiscal budget. Even after months of discussions and headlines, schools have opened with fewer resources than last year. On March 28th the School Reform Commission approved a lump sum budget which showed a need for an additional $220 million in revenue in order to provide schools with same resources as the “wholly insufficient” 2013-14 school year (McCorry). There will be many inadequate funding impacts on the quality of the education. Classroom resources would be stripped to untenable levels. The district would reduce as much as $2.2 million funding to the districts’ multiple pathways to graduation program which affects estimated 300 students. Another $1.5 million could be reduced from the elimination of preparation and professional development time for teachers at the district’s high needs promise academies. The district’s building maintenance budget could have reduction in amount of $9.6 million. Schools will be cleaned less frequently as a result. Building maintenance will also be curtailed as a result. District’s school police budget could also have reduction in amount of $2.4 million. School police officer vacancies will be unfilled, leaving an additional 27 elementary schools to share an officer.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said, “School budget crunches have been a trend over the past couple years and span the entire nation” (qtd. in Van

Throughout history there have been various influential court cases involving Education. These important cases and their outcomes act as milestones on the road to a successful education System in the United States. Topics such as race, religion and gender equality within schools have all been vigorously debated upon and have ultimately played major roles in shaping today 's education system. By examining civil rights and acting upon these rights many important educational court cases have allowed many students a greater chance for efficient and equal learning opportunities in the classroom.

In 2013, the state lawmakers restored almost $3.4 billion of the $5.4 billion in public education cuts made in 2011 and changed graduation and testing requirements. Last year, the legislature restored $1.5 billion into schools, which wasn’t enough to cover the previous $5.4 billion cut, when adjusted for enrollment growth and inflation.

This case has also set the groundwork for forthcoming cases such as Bethel School District v. Fraser where the courts decision was based on this landmark case. It was stated that basically “students are not granted the same coextensive rights as adults in other settings outside of school”. Institutions of education still apply the decisions made in New Jersey v. T.L.O. to today’s school settings to maintain order and accountability of student well

Board of Eduation. The issue of concern was whether New Jersey could reimburse transportation costs to the parents of schoolchildren, at both public and nonpublic schools. As a heavy assortment of the nonpublic schools were catholic, an anti-Catholic organization within the state challenged the program, arguing it violated the Establishment clause. In a 5-4 ruling, the court upheld the law, stating that transportation could be considered a child benefit. However, Everson’s legacy goes far beyond the upholding of New Jersey’s reimbursement program because it was the first case of its kind whose opinion dealt directly with the Establishment clause. Furthermore, the author of the majority opinion, Justice Hugo Black, invoked the Jeffersonian metaphor of “a wall of separation,” writing, “In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state.” Based upon this line of thinking alone, it is difficult to see why the court ruled in favor of the defendant. However, Justice Black also considered the requirements of Free Exercise clause, claiming that for the state to instate “public welfare legislation,” and then hampering citizens from receiving it on grounds of their religious beliefs would be a violation of the free exercise of the religion. Justice Black’s consideration of the Establishment clause in Everson therefore serves as demarcation point in the judicial history of education. Post-Everson, writes Hubert Morken, “many judicial challenges to educational policy have been couched in church/state

New Jersey ordered all board of educations to reimburse the parents, including those whose children attend catholic schools, of children taking public transportation. To local taxpayer/resident Arch Everson, this violated his 1A rights.

This meaning that the poorer the people within the neighbor the poorer the school districts will be. Although this case shed some light, it failed under the federal Equal Protection analysis because education was not a “fundamental right” recognized by the Constitution and because the educationally disadvantaged poor did not constitute a “suspect classification.” The Court refused to overturn the school finance system on grounds of inequality. Equally notable, this case “virtually abdicated any role for the federal courts in guaranteeing educational rights under the Federal Constitution,” leaving future plaintiffs “to state courts and constitutions for the change they seek (www.schoolfunding.com).”

Starting in the 1960s as the turmoil surrounding Brown V. Board of education died down, parents and taxpayers began to bring lawsuits against state funding systems arguing that these systems violated either state or federal constitutions (Augenblick, Myers & Anderson, 1997). Thus far, federal claims have all failed. In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the San Antonio independent School

North Carolina’s General Fund revenues have shown an increase since the 2009 recession. Profits have increase about 3.3% on average each year (North Carolina Office of State Budget, 2016). According to the North Carolina General Assembly the enacted General Fund Budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year totals $21,919,468,078. Of this over $21 billion dollar budget about $12 billion is earmark by lawmakers for education. K-12 public education has been allocated $8,419,444,621 for the 2016-2017 school year (North Carolina Office of State Budget, 2016). Below is a breakdown of North Carolina’s tax revenue sources that make up the General Fund Budget and an analysis of the current

School boards across the country have been struggling to fully fund art, music, and culture programs that without a doubt serve to round out the education of the country's youth. States such as California have faced major budget cuts. In 2008, California projected a shortcoming of $42 billion. (California Schools Girding for cuts under fiscal Plan) During a signing ceremony the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger stated, "During a down economy and facing an historic budget deficit we have to make some very difficult decisions..." He later warned local school districts that the cuts will impact the students (I’ll be back). California is not the only state who has faced budget cuts. When put up against struggling budgets brought

New Jersey like many other states relies on a tax system to provide many different services to its citizens including schools, roads, public health, and safety. Correspondingly, it has to raise the money required to

Budget cuts in schools cause turmoil and stress among the students and faculty. Drastic changes in the budgets have caused schools to negatively impact the people around them. With the lack of funding, schools are facing difficult decisions on what to do to stay within their budget. Supervision is facing much scrutiny on how to handle the lack of funding in their school districts. A solution needs to be made to improve the distribution of funding to our schools in order to keep them operating and thriving for our children to obtain their education. Budget cuts in schools have shown negative effects on employee positions, supplies, extracurricular activities.

In today’s economic environment even the wealthiest states and districts are having to cut funding for education, while districts which were already teetering on the edge are now in an even worse position. In some schools children have to face not having enough books, paper for copies, severe overcrowding,