Public Schools And Private Public Partnerships

With the many diverse characteristics of the Unites States, perhaps the most troubling is the rising gap in the distribution of wealth. As the wealth gap in the United States rises exponentially, the gap in the quality of public schooling rises with it. For a country that prides itself in prestigious outlets of education, the system of public schooling seems to be miserably failing. Public education, a system that some fight to destroy while others fight to preserve, is perhaps the only source of academic opportunity for many individuals living in this country. The fact that someone can live in a certain area and receive a higher quality of public education than someone else living in a different area in the same country—even in the same state—is a problem that should not trouble a ‘progressive’ democratic society. Unfortunately, areas of lower socioeconomic status receive much less funding than areas of higher socioeconomic status, where property taxes account for 45% of funding in public school districts. Naturally, the impoverished residents of poor neighborhoods pay a harsh price in this situation, sending their children to an underfunded school with little to no resources, where sometimes teachers must supply the classroom from their own pocket. As Rogerson and Fernandez note, “a system that allows the accidents of geography and birth to determine the quality of education received by an individual is inimical to the idea of equal opportunity in the marketplace”

PHEI’s saw the potential market value of these unserved students, and were able to move swiftly to put new programs, and sometimes entire schools, in place to meet demand. From 2008-2010, the ten largest proprietary schools had an average increase in enrollment of over 30% (Harkin, 2012). In the decade between 2000-2010, the PHEI industry had an overall increase in enrollment of 235% (Figure 1.) This represents over 9% of the population of post-secondary students (Lynch, Engle, & Cruz, 2010). This growth was supported by the government, which believed the public sector could not meet the rising demand for education.

After Robert Zaller explained how the housing market crashed due to a tremendous rise in prices, he said, “Now, looking at the costs of private higher education, typically in the range of $40,000-$50,000 per year, it seems clear that they, too, have become unsustainable” (553). High school students, from their first day of freshman year, are pushed to look into attending a “big” college, which often means the most expensive colleges. The cost of the college is not a top

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

The for-profit college and university (FPCU) is an institutional type that “’do[es]’ education or schooling but also ‘behave[s]’ like a business, while preparing students for occupational roles (Hentschke, Lechuga & Tierney, 2010, p. 2). This paper will discuss history; cite changes in curriculum, degree offerings, and institution classification; and explore current issues of financial viability, accreditation, and fraudulent practices of the for-profit college.

with the public sector. Privatization refers to shifts in ownership from government to private for-profit

Now all types of institutions - public and private, two year and four year, non-profit and for-profit-are vying for the same pool of students, public funding, research grants, and prestige. In the process they are creating a fierce competition that is slowly chipping away at higher education’s commitment to servicing public needs. (Couturier, 2005, p. 87)

Proprietary education dates back to the late nineteenth century where institutions focused on professional training in teaching, medicine, and law (Breneman, Pusser, & Turner, S., 2000). The 1972 Higher Education Reauthorization Act included for-profit institutions in federal financial aid programs and changed the vernacular of higher education to postsecondary education (2000). This piece of legislation along with new technologies along with increased demand for higher education and prompted a resurgence of for-profit institutions in the latter half of the twentieth century (2000). From these changes, a new era of postsecondary education was born

When researchers take a historical look, for-profit post-secondary institutions have been in the United States since the colonial days. In the 1967 about seven million people were enrolled and seeking a degree at a post-secondary institution. (Tierney 2011) However, less than ten

Higher education is a very profitable field, and because of that, for-profit schools have been placed under scrutiny. In the documentary College Inc., Michael Smith, the correspondent, investigates the promise and tremendous growth of for-profit colleges in the higher education industry. With the student’s best interests in mind, many people have begun to question the integrity of these schools. However, they do not take into account the benefits that these for-profit colleges can offer to non-traditional students, giving them the opportunity to obtain a quality education, and marketable job skills. For-profit colleges are continuously accepting the abundance of students who have realized

The funding of public education has long been an issue for the state government of Texas. Starting before Texas was even a state, public education funding was at the forefront of politician’s minds. In 1836, one of the reasons Anglo-Texans wanted to become independent from Mexico was Mexico’s lack of a public school system (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). This drove the desire of President Mirabeau B. Lamar of the Republic of Texas to create legislation that would grant public schools land (A Brief History of Public Education, n.d.). This act set aside four leagues of land per county for the use of free education centers and thus began the funding of public education by the state government (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). In the last 177 years, the Texas Legislature and the Texas Education Agency have created numerous acts and laws regarding the funding of education, but it has been in the last 50 years that this topic has become highly contested, resulting in several lawsuits and endless efforts (by the school districts) to equalize the distribution of funds to Texas school districts (Texas School Finance Hisory, n.d.). In sum, the complex issues and policies that surround the funding of public education are derived from a combination of the legislature, bureaucratic agencies, and local governments in the form of school districts.

Public education is a good that is privileged to everyone in the United States. While education may seem extensive and unnecessary, especially to youth, achieving an education has benefitted people through the history of the U.S., which in turn benefits the U.S.’s welfare. When Thomas Jefferson advocated the opening of public schools in the early 1800s, his plan was only half fulfilled; only wealthy communities could afford public schools (Watson 2). This remained true until the early to mid 1900s, where schooling became accessible for all, regardless of skill level or income. Since the mid 1950s, the U.S. has made tremendous leaps in not only technology, but also in the stabilization of the government and economy; these successes can be attributed to education. If that privilege to learning was no longer given, the U.S.’s development would be lost.

For-Profits Universities are actually helping the education system by filling gaps left by the traditional public and private institutions. Kevin Carey emphasizes that Ultimately For-profit institutions have many great options to offer their students. The institutions not only offer online courses, they provide accelerated and night programs as well. Many locations of the school are available where most public and private universities are not. Thus briskly expanding all over the country rather than, exclusive “University States”. Furthermore according to Carey’s last claim, he researches the authenticity of the degree provided by each academic institution. Public and private lyceums will declare superiority over for profits. Carey found

In today’s society, we realize the importance of education and how it will benefit all to have an adequate education that will give the best opportunities. However, individual states have jurisdictions over the curriculum and funding over the public education. This means that California students may have a higher academic standing than Utah. The 14th Amendment and other various versions have brought upon the issue of equal, free and adequate education Yet, it has been denied several times because it is not federal jurisdiction and they has no power in this issue. The main reason the Amendment is being denied because of the definition of what is a citizen. Is someone a citizen because they were born in the U.S.A. or moving to U.S.A. and

In 2012, the for-profit postsecondary global market reached more than $96 billion dollars. While is constitutes less than 10% of the global postsecondary market, it is expected that the for-profit sector will outpace its not-for-profit peers in years to come. Postsecondary education includes programs offered by colleges, universities, and other adult training programs. Schools generally fall into one of three categories: public not-for-profit, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit. For-profit postsecondary schools are attractive to due to their student-centered, job-oriented focus.