Persuasive Essay On School Funding

Teachers shape the minds of students to realize what their purpose is in life. Lately, because of certain educational reforms, it has been hard for teachers to say what they need to say. “In 40-plus states, the math and English guidelines determine the knowledge students have to master by the end of each grade, what they’ll be tested on this year, and in many cases, how teachers and principals will be rated at their jobs once those test scores are released” (Strauss). Most educational reforms are adopting standardized testing and should be reconsidered. Statistics even show that since we have taken part in reforms like No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standards math and reading are declining. These standards tell teachers what to teach and what the students should know by the end of the school year. The reforms also evaluate teacher performance by how well the students learn the information. Some people believe educational reforms should not be telling teachers how to teach their students, and others believe that the reforms are absolutely fine the way they are. However the truth is educational reforms are yet to be perfected.

We have made great bounds when it comes to free education in the U.S but we still have a long ways to go. Free education is a requirement for all of the U.S, but not all education is equal. I was very fortunate that I grew up surrounded by good schools but not everyone is as lucky as I am. There are many schools that don’t live up to the standards that schools should be held to. They offer the minimum requirements to get funding from the state. This is not how we should be treating the future of our country. A solution to this problem is School Vouchers. They allow parents to receive money specifically to afford a better school for their child. An easy way to think of it is like a coupon good for any school. This will allow parents a way to get their child a quality education. People might ask where the money will come from but the same questions were asked when free education was first established and it already costs money for students to go to public schools. School vouchers will help parents and children get the schooling that they deserve, can improve education standards for everyone, and can help lower crime rates.

Public education has struggled with securing funding for years and the opening of charter schools has impacted the budgets of school systems across the country. As more charter schools are created and parents

School choice is an important issue in communties with poor quality schools. The school choice

School districts experience changes in educations on a regular basis. Some of these changes occur as a result of local, state, and/or federal issues. One way to prepare for local changes that are related to revenue and expenditures is to stay informed. Attending school board, PTA, and city council meetings is a good way to stay informed on what is occurring in your local area. The problem of financing education once, considered the responsibility of only a few specialist with vested interests in the schools—boards of education, school administrators, state departments of education, and state legislatures—developed into a priority item for virtually all citizens. (Brimley 2008) All

Although there are many factors that contribute to a quality education the one that provokes the most controversy, is the concept of equal funding for every school. While money is not the sole component of education, it is certainly important. Recently I have become very intrigued in this topic. I am passionate about pursuing my educational goal to become a teacher. I also work in an after-school program at an elementary school in Concord, with my own class made up of bright minded kindergartners and first graders. I have seen that in this schools community there is a very low-income rate, causing the school to not get proper funding. As a future teacher, I am determined to do what I can to solve this problem.

Funding: Although the issue of disparity in per-pupil funding has received attention in California, significant differences in the amount of money spent on students across this state still persist. For example, the Roseville Joint Unified School District spends an average of $7,330 per student whereas an adjacent district, Twin Rivers Unified, spends $9,062 per student (California Watch, 2011). Disparities in funding, such as this, leave students in urban schools with poorer resources, which ultimately hinders their academic progress.

Virtually every school district in the country has been or is currently facing the need to reduce their budget. In the last two years, budget cuts have become far more common in school districts than ever recorded. Some schools are able to cushion the effects of the reductions by shifting fundings around or pulling out reserves, but there is no debate to the fact that these cuts have, in one way or another, a negative impact on the education of students in school districts.

The United States Department of Education has made many budget cuts that effect many schools across the country. Budget cuts are a problem that schools across the United States are seeing more and more since the 2016 presidential elections. These funding cuts are affecting students and teachers nationwide. School budget cuts are not something people should be worrying about in this time, education is very important and student’s educations are extremely valuable. Many schools are losing money for programs such as arts, theatre, and music programs. Some schools are even getting shut down from the actions.

When 11% of Australia’s population as a member of the LGBT community, having 61% of these people facing homophobic abuse is a real issue and it needs to be solved now. Since it’s first appearance in 2010, the safe schools program has helped gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender kids to feel acceptance and combat against homophobic bullying. Although the ‘Safe Schools’ program has showed extremely positive outcomes when it came to reduction of bullying and overall happiness of students, however, the current Australian Government

In many states, a majority of local property tax revenues are distributed to local public schools. For this reason those who do not have children or know any children in the area, in search of an education, are opposed to the idea of an increase in school taxes as they do not see any benefits for themselves. Most of these particular individuals also strongly believe that public school systems are inefficient and wasteful, thus an increase in funding will not make much of a difference. According to fact number two in the “Facts About K-12 Education Funding,” investments in education do not necessarily mean that higher scores will be accomplished. As long as the funds are not being spent correctly, there will not be any changes for the better to improve these schools. In recent years, the liability of funding for public schools has shifted from the local property taxes to federal and state sources.

Funding for public school systems is a complicated and multifaceted topic. Funding for public schools comes from federal, state, and local tax dollars, but the percentage from each category differs from state to state. In this paper I will discuss how the Commonwealth of Virginia establishes the Standards of Quality (SOQ) for education, funded positions within school systems, how Virginia determines the amount of state financial support using the Local Composite Index (LCI), and give recommendations to fix funding shortfalls.

Iowa is very unique when it comes to school finance. We use the single count date for the purpose of funding the state’s school districts. This is a count of the number of students in attendance on October 1st. This is when the federal government requires a count of the number of students eligible for the free and reduced price lunch program for purposes of Title I funding. An advantage to using the single count date is that it is reasonably easy and it also helps to cut down on administrative costs. There are many disadvantages to using this system. The single count date does not give districts any type of financial incentives for holding onto

Imagine a world where parents freely send their children to only the best schools, no matter which neighborhood they lived in? Imagine a world where cost affected nothing? Imagine if even a student in the poorest section of town got allowed access to the best education. What could that child achieve? What would they become? How would their life change? Those questions that I asked now lead to the focus of the essay. The world we live in is ever so changing, with that the need for education also needs a changing. No longer classic public schools fit the job in all specific situations. This leads to school choice being a controversial issue in education reform, school choice public funds should be used to support school choice programs that offer parents alternatives to traditional public schools.

Schools have a number of various sources. The primary sources are federal, state, and local funding. The majority of funding comes from state and local sources; whereas a small percent (usually 9-12%) comes from the federal level. The method by which schools receive funding is through the taxation process. At the state level, taxes are levied from taxpayers, both corporate and citizens via sales and income tax. At the local level, school funding comes from property taxes. Let’s explore the how the various sources of school funding. “According to the National Center for Education Statistics, state and local funding accounts for approximately 93 percent of education expenditures” (Woodruff, 2008, ¶ 2). Let’s examine these various sources of revenue and funding and different formulas for allocation along with their pros and cons.