Fairness For School Funding

Within the United States everyday many people from different races experience discrimination within every aspect of there lives. One aspect is within the school systems that they are having to attend. The funding between the school systems in the United States and in different areas within those states has a large gap. This gap was so large that within the, “The Atlantic” a credible news article wrote about how race within the schools influences how much that school is going to receive funding. In the article called, “ The Data Dre Damaging: How race Influences School Funding” it states, “That means that no matter how rich or poor the district in question, funding gaps existed solely based on the racial composition of the school. Just the increased presence of minority students actually deflated a district’s funding level” (White). If this is true what is to say that every school in America is still doing this kind of discrimination. This kind of discrimination on needs to end immediately. Just because these young children are growing up in the poorer sections of town doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have the same rights as other kids. Every child in America should have the same access to a quality education.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

“Education is a major driver of development and is a strong instrument for reducing poverty, improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability” (The World Bank) - so why is it that students are often deprived from an extensive education? In Illinois, education funding has been an ongoing problem. Funding for schools is based on the property taxes where the schools are located, causing those who live in lower socioeconomic areas to receive less educational funding. This is unfair because children who live in lower socioeconomic areas are not able to receive the same opportunities and benefits that are acquired when a quality education is obtained. This is why educational funding in Illinois should be distributed evenly so that every

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Kozol (1991) explained in his book how one would think that because they live in a free nation and they are entitled to a free education, that they would receive the same as everyone else. Unfortunately, our country was set up with a tax-based formula for school funding. It’s a complicated formula and most people never think to scrutinize it. Basically, taxes based on the values of homes are levied. It is an equal tax in all districts so it is equitable. Ironically, because the properties in poor areas are worth far less than in affluent areas, there is always a shortage. The Shortage in funding creates a significant difference in teacher quality, curriculum and resources Former Secretary John King (2016) explained how schools with highly concentrated Blacks and Latinos are less likely to offer advanced

Every student must have an equal opportunity to free, fair, equitable, and rigorous education. As educators we must strive to provide students with the best education we possibly can as teachers, community members, administration and policy makers. In order to provide equitable education all learners must be taken into consideration when designing curriculum, lessons, courses and school structure.

Most people believe that students do better in well-funded schools and that public education should provide a level playing field for children. Nearly half of the funding for public schools in the United States, however, is provided through local taxes, generating large differences in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a). Efforts to reduce these disparities have provoked controversy and resistance. Public school funding the United States comes from federal, state, and local sources, but because nearly half of those funds come from local property taxes, the system generates large funding differences between wealthy and impoverished communities. Such differences exist among states, among school districts within each state, and even among schools within specific districts.

“Unequal School Funding” is the practice in which a school district’s funding is based on unequal property taxes within the district. Public education be financed by Unequal School Funding in forty-nine states. The amount of revenue a school district can raise

Public education is under funded, especially in the state of Alabama. I attended public school in the state of Alabama and I experienced this first hand in my elementary and high school classrooms. Low funds for the arts department and many basic school necessities are just some of the areas that are affected by the low funding. In the 2012-2013 school years, Alabama had over 744,637 students enrolled in a total of 1,637 schools. Alabama’s school funding has gone down 14% since 2008. Many school systems have to spend additional money from local revenue on top of what the state provides because it is not enough. Alabama public schools are under funded and it is a problem that is affecting classrooms across the

I believe that school funding equality is very important. Public school funding comes from federal, state and local sources. The federal government has tried to come up with solutions to this problem. The fact that our schools are mostly funded by property taxes, more affluent taxpayers believe that the money should stay in their districts. Most Americans are unaware that other nations, do not fund public schools with local property taxes, rather they use general tax revenues to provide equal per student funding.

Educational funding for school districts is an ongoing war. A war that will be fought till equality is achieved. A school district’s wealth is affected by a number of reasons such as its property wealth, the race of the people who live there and their socio-economic status. Some districts are wealthier than others. Wealthy districts get more funding than poor districts because they have more property wealth and people with high socio-economic statuses. The wealth of a school district determines how much resources the school gets and just how much education the children in that district receive.

This controversy comes to an agreement of schools needing to be funded equally and efficiently. In “The Stealth Inequities of School Funding”, Rutgers university professor, Bruce Baker, analyzed the comparison of goals of state aid formulas and their outcomes. Although state aid formulas are constructed to endorse fairness and capability, they are producing the inequality and incompetence. Baker discovered this by examining how states distribute the funding they are given. States are giving the funding they receive to low-poverty stricken schools. With additional study, he finds that the balance of funding would be equalized if the money

The sad reality of it all is that gross funding inequities continue to persist in the U.S and no one seems to be working steadily to rid this problem. When putting funding into education equity should be focused on rather than equality. According to the National Report card there are core fairness principles that must be followed to maintain equal opportunity. The 3rd principle states that the level of funding in a district should increase relative to the level of concentrated student poverty rate. Therefore state finance systems should provide more funding to districts serving larger share of students in poverty (Is School Funding Fair? 7). Examining the school district of Philadelphia one could see that this principle is not being followed. The No Child Left Behind Act was created in 2001 to ensure that no later than 12 years after 2001 (2013) all students will meet the states standards. The act

Conflict Theory states that there is an unequal distribution of resources between the “have” and the “have nots”. In the movie, there was an unequal distribution of school funds. For Malik to be able to attend Columbus University on a scholarship, he must run. If he doesn’t run, they will take his scholarship away and he can no longer go to school. Not only were there an unequal distribution of school funds, the privilege among the school seemed to be uneven too. Many of the white students at the school got away with disciplinary actions due to the color of their skin. Police on campus requested student ID’s from the black students on campus, even with familiar faces on familiar parts of them