Pros And Cons Of Public Schools

When local property taxes were the primary source of school funding, districts were financially stable and were able to allocate funds for appropriate spendings. With the limitations set on property taxes, school budgets became dependent on the state’s fluctuating economy and tax collections. Fortunately, in 1988, Proposition 98 was passed, which set a minimum base funding for public schools. This proposition guaranteed funding that would grow each year with the changing economy along with student enrollment. This funding, though managed by the state was a combination of state General Fund and local property tax revenues.

Since the 1980s, charter schools have allowed families to exercise school choice, a practice that had begun a few decades earlier when parents preferred to control their children’s education because of religious views or racial prejudices. As dissatisfaction with the performance public schools grew during the late 20th century, parents called on government to subsidize an arrangement where children could receive adequate education outside of the traditional public school system. Thus, two major school choice devices emerged: charter schools, privately run schools that receive public funding, and tuition vouchers, which cover some or all of tuition at participating private schools.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yeats. We have many choices when it comes to educating our children. It is a matter of personal choice which road you will follow and which choice is the best decision for your child. When you’re weighing the pros and cons of public versus private school some things to consider are class size, academic offering, cultural diversity, afterschool activities and cost. The type of school to choose can be equally as difficult. There are public schools, charter schools, religious schools, homeschooling, and private schools.

According to Samuel Flam and William Keane authors of Public Schools: Private Enterprise, the definition of privatize is “...the process of turning over to private companies, programs, services and sometimes properties previously operated and/or owned by a government agency” (Flam & Keane, 1997, p.15). Privatizing of a school service is selling a service of the school district to a private company that runs, maintains and keeps up the service. The school district no longer oversees this service and virtually has no control over what they do but outsourcing this service would cut back on the economic spending of the school. A school service is something that students receive that is provided for them in school to enhance their well-being. In the school system, some examples of services that could be outsourced by a private company are school lunches, buses and janitor staff. According to Joe Argon author of Changing of the Guard, “for schools, transportation, food service, HVAC maintenance, computer servicing and printing continue to be the areas privatized most often” (Argon, 1997). The main issue behind this is finding out if privatizing school services does the school district more harm or good and what happens to the services and students after they have been privatized.

Currently, there is a way to avoid a the encompassment of public education; and that is private education. Yet, everything comes at a price and as stated by Amy Witherbee; “... if given the option, and money was no object (tuition, transportation costs, etc.), more than half of the parents questioned would take their children from public schools to the private sector.” Which may seem obvious as most parents would expect the best for their children in education. Another issue, is that private schools;”require tuition and use selective admissions processes, which segregate student populations.”(Witherbee,15). This being another example where education further segregates prospective students based off income. As it is understood, private schools entail costs not present in public education, as shared these costs would cover the tuition fee for attending, and materials, as well as any fees acquired with putting someone in private education. If half of the parents who were asked if they would enlist their child in private schooling, then there obviously some questions that arise about both of the halves. For example, for the parents/guardians, who answered that they would not move their child from public school, already have their children enlisted in a more advantaged public school in a good community. Therefore, if survey was to question only the parents of a certain socioeconomic bracket what they thought of public education, the response may have been majorly position on

After reading this article I am not a fan of charter schools, I think they are run by selfish people who only worry about their income. The schools have a different way of teaching. The charter schools are forcing public schools out of low income areas where they are truly needed because families can not afford private schools.

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This phrase has become the motto of all people concerned with equality, and is a major cornerstone of our government. Our education system is subject to this principle of equality, as reflected in the federal mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. The government recognizes that it must provide free and appropriate education for all students. All citizens, including those with disabilities, must be given

For too long, and for reasons that range from lack of district funding to inexperienced teachers and everything in between, too many public schools have been underserving and failing our children. Until fairly recently in this country’s educational history, the only option to public school was private schools, and this was a privilege that only the children of the wealthy and elite enjoyed. However, in the 1970s, the conception of charter schools, first posed by Ray Budde, an American university professor with a natural interest in organizational theory, began to take shape and take root across the U.S. As of the 2011-2012 school year, there were 2.1 million students enrolled in charter schools across the country; as of the 2012-2013 school year, there were almost 6,000 charter schools in the U.S. (eight states do not have any charter schools at all). Ohio has 353 charter schools, with performance ratings, or report cards, that are all over the map. Unfortunately, widely-ranging performance ratings across different charter schools are not unique to Ohio. While there are states that have higher performance ratings, there are also

Along with the progression of time and age, more and more students and their parents are expressing their dissatisfaction and vexation with the American public school system. Turning towards alternative methods ranging from private institutions, to removing their children from public schooling altogether and homeschooling instead, this leaves a multitude of people questioning, what is the problem, why is it present, and what is it stemming from? The answer is simple. The problem with America’s public school system is the inability of institutions to accurately see and meet the true needs of students.

For over a century, public education has been the backbone of our nation. But in recent years it has come under scrutiny for ill-preparing our youth for the futures that lie ahead of them. Originally established to teach young people the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen, public schooling has since transformed into the belief that it is solely for college and career readiness. Educational historian and policy analyst Diane Ravitch however, disagrees with the latter and firmly states her position in an excerpt from her book Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. She supports her claim by utilizing logos and ethos to effectively show that the American schooling system has failed in its primary goal: teaching young people the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Going through school and especially high school, I would hear things having to do with what regular public school teachers think of charter schools, both good and bad. The majority of what I heard was along the lines of charter schools being proper education or if they even constituted as proper education. Do they have the same or at least some of the same standards, educationally or not, to give students a well-rounded learning experience? Being a future teacher, I just want to know more about them and how they work in depth. I am genuinely interested in this topic because I could possibly be an employee at a charter school one day. Even if I am not an employee of a charter school, I can still benefit from knowing more about the topic.

Derek Bok, the former president of Harvard University, famously said "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance". Despite the significant advances we have made in the last hundred years, and even in the last decade, there remains an endless list of problems with our public education systems. In fact, even though the U.S. have some of the best higher education institutions in the world, we nonetheless consistently failed to be recognized as a true leader in public education at the K-12 level. Take this statistic for example: between 1990 and 2010, the high school dropout rate only fell by 3%, from 12.1% to 7.4%. Put simply, over the two decades on average 1.2 million students (7,000/day) dropped out of high school. While these numbers have improved in the last five years, many students—especially those of color in urban areas—are still consistently facing a significant roadblock to high school graduation: school absences due to suspensions.

Is a tax-supported school different in principle from a tax-supported church? Schools and churches are similar in their goals. A school seeks to educate the members so that they can be more productive in society; churches seek to educate their members, so they can become better people spiritually. Now we have the question, is a tax supported school different from a tax supported church? When looking at authority, it always goes back to, “Who provides the money?”. In a tax supported institution, the authority rests with whoever is supplying the funds, which is usually a government. The government will have power over the school or church, because without this funding, the institutions would fail. This authority will determine what to teach,

While policymakers are readily seeking ways to improve the academic success of chartering organizations, Arizona is given a huge opportunity to provide leadership and usher the way into the next era of education.

Greene, Jay P. "Futile accountability systems should be abandoned." Education Next, vol.17, no. 3, 2017