The Importance Of State Funding For Maine Schools

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.

It was with wild fanfare that the state’s Republican legislature and Republican Governor enacted their reforms for the state’s public school system. Among the panaceas was charter schools, a ‘90s education fad that gives individual parents the right to send their children to state-approved public charter schools at public expense. Politicians reasoned that less-bureaucratic charter schools would teach students better than traditional public schools because charter schools wouldn’t be subject to the same mandates that the state had heaped upon public schools. Furthermore, traditional schools would be forced to compete with charter schools as they lured thousands

The schools from poorer towns and cities do not have the financial assets available to them to hire the kind of teachers that schools with more money have the capability to employ.

Charter schools in North Carolina do not receive any funding from the lottery, while public schools do. Teachers complain about how they do not get paid enough. Voters go to the polls and vote for referendums that would hopefully be used for education purposes. Student population is growing, so should the money. Jessica Swencki, spokeswoman for Brunswick County Schools, said “It does not go very far. Brunswick County got about $800,000 last year which went to reroof one of the aging middle schools. The average price on one of those middle school roofing projects is around $1.2 million, so it really pays for about three-fourths of a roof, if you really think about the check that Brunswick County Schools actually receives.” Swencki also stated, “…Whenever the misperception is out there that these dollars are flowing into the public school system may or may not be using them to their fullest extent.” Teachers are starting to go on more strikes to protest for better pay. Schools never received half of the lottery money. Based on poverty concentration, North Carolina received a ‘B’, which was much better than the ‘Fs’ the state received during the early 2000s. North Carolina then cut funding for wealthy districts, but continued to fund for the poorer districts. Well, what followed the cut? Teachers went years without seeing a raise in their salaries. The amount of students in a classroom increased. Countless numbers of teacher assistants were cut from

The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While

“Shrinking state and local education budgets matched with the added pressure of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets rigid standards in reading and math that schools must achieve in order to receive federal funding, have created a new challenge for districts” (Van Harken).

To get to this point, Massachusetts had to completely change its educational reform. To achieve a better outcome for the system, school investment had to be doubled. The current total expenditure in Arizona’s K-12 education is clearly not enough. If a real progress wants to be made, a larger amount of funding should be invested. Increasing the amount invested in Arizona’s K-12 education will allow the state government to

If the current system not the administration calculates that the annually will increase as a chance to reinforce the district where it needs the assistance. While increased funding not necessarily equate to improvements in student performance, it’s funding and where it is clearly needs to be addressed. Ambitious effort to lift student achievement and, fundamentally, to undermine the idea of public

Focusing on Rhode Island’s future, which encompasses the education of our youth is a continuing topic of discussion. However, it is emphasized when neighboring states are outperforming Rhode Island’s public school children. Complicating the issue is the performance of Rhode Island public school children fall near or even slightly below the national average on several standardized tests. Delivering more and better services is a persistent need for governments. Mounting costs of delivering services has forced administrators

One of the hottest debated topics discussed all throughout the country is funding for education. Many schools experience budget cuts at the district and state levels. The U.S. government makes tough decisions on where and how the taxpayer’s money should be spent. Americans who rely on the public school system do not support budget cuts. Writers all across the country have the same sentiment.

Proposition 30, formally known as "Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012” would add Section 36 to Article XIII of the California Constitution. Proposition 30 increases personal income taxes for seven years for California residents with an annual income over $250,000 and sales taxes by .25 % for four years. This tax increase is placed on California 's top 5% of taxpayers and is estimated to generate average revenues of $6 billion dollars a year for California. 3 These revenues generated will be used to fund public schools, more specifically 89% of these temporary tax revenues will help fund K-12 schools and 11% of these revenues will help fund community colleges. These funds are prohibited to be used by schools for administrative cost purposes, however, local school governing boards are given the freedom to decide how they should best allocate these new resources. This measure would also include provisions of the recent “realignment” which would ensure counties continue to receive funding for programs such as public safety, health and social services. 3 With the rising costs of education and decrease in state funding for public schools, it is beneficial to vote in favor of Proposition 30 to better educate our future and help fund initiatives such as reducing class sizes, buying new textbooks and hiring more

Oklahoma as of today is ranked 49th nationally in per-pupil expenditures and ranked 48th in teacher pay (Klein 2). Putting Oklahoma as one of the worst states to be educated in the United States. “Oklahoma is consistently ranked near the bottom for education funding and teacher pay” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth And Job Creation” 3). When there are state cuts that need to be made, the departments of education are one of the first that usually tend to suffer. Since the 2008 economic crisis, Oklahoma has continued to cut the budget for education; even though the economy has since then gotten better (Perry). Budget cuts in education affect all parts of the education process for the students. “Some school districts have ordered teacher layoffs and shorter sessions” (“Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer” par 4).Schools are now struggling to keep their heads above water. Each year from the budget cutting, schools have had to lay off teachers, cut entire programs, and have limited resources used to educate the students. Even the teachers’ retirement system is suffering, being one of the top poorly funded pension programs nationally (Ash par 3). Seeing as that the schools have to cut down classes and programs, administration has had no other choice than to increase class size, overwhelming teachers tremendously. “Oklahoma has 1,500 fewer classroom teachers and 40,000 more students since 2008-2009” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth

Anne Bryant provides research-based studies, examples, and justification in favor of school boards. She outlined that effective school boards must have a shared vision, set tightly focused goals, utilize data, focus on policy, and focus and collaborate with all stakeholders. According to Bryant, school boards must connect to the community and the local taxpayers while boosting community engagement. While we agree that school boards must be concerned about student achievement, I appreciate that she also expressed the idea that most school boards do not believe in silver bullets and are caution in nature. I hesitate to support school boards because I feel they often tend to micromanage and feel the power to make sweeping policies even though they lack the significant scientific background of education. Her recognition that school boards often want reform, but know there are not quick fixes helped to reassure me of their intentions.

Education is an issue that touches everyone’s lives in one way or another. Whether you are a parent, student, teacher, taxpayer, or employee, the effects of education on society can be seen everyday. For this reason, public schools are a top concern among political leaders. Over the past twenty-five years, confidence in the nation’s public school system has dramatically declined. While the public for the most part seems to support their school district, criticism is not lacking. Recent years especially have shown dissipating support. It appears that the prevailing view is that public education, as a whole, is in bad condition and is in need of a renewed effort to fix it. Private schools seem to fare

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.