WSF In School

Being a teacher who has spent the past seven years working in a “persistently low-achieving” school, I have gained an understanding of the inequities within Jefferson County Public Schools. Students, who attend schools with higher levels of poverty, are subjected to not receiving the same standard of education as those who attend schools with lower levels of poverty. Educational equity is an issue in our district and has become a main focus for improvement. JCPS has made it a goal to find ways to provide an equitable education to all students, regardless of their gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin. JCPS wishes to create a system that not only focuses on high achievement, fairness and providing an opportunity in education but ensures every student receives a basic minimum standard of education. Achieving these goals, of course, is easier said than done. Our district, school leaders, teachers, parents, students,

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.

4) Facts: Since the verdict made by the Supreme Court on the Brown v. Board of Education case, little enactment was made in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina’s school structure. There are 107 schools altogether, in which the student population is 84000. Within the structure, there are 21 schools in which 14000 African Americans attend that are 99% of their race only. The rest of the African American students, about 10000 students, attend integrated school. In this case, the plaintiff, Swann, had come forth to bring the board of education to the court. It all started when Dr. Darius Swann, professor at Johnson C. Smith University, wanted to enroll his child to an almost all white school closer to his home, which he was rejected.

Susan, a young teenager, wanted to attend a better equipped school closer to her family home. This wish, combined with her father’s civil rights involvement, contributed to her family’s decision to file a court case to gain access to an all white school to which she had originally been denied access. The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision regarding Clark versus Board of Directors was the first successful school desegregation case in the United States.

"Before 1954 most public school systems in the south- and some in the north as well-were racially segregated"(Tackach 8). Although the basis for the case was that

In order to implement this policy, responsibility will be bestowed upon the “Foundation School Program” and the Texas state Legislature (Grusendorf, 2015, pg.2). These two groups play the most vital role in changing and implementing the new “state formulas” (Grusendorf, 2015, pg.3). Both will work together in creating and agreeing to the new state formulas. We will review the formulas every year and decide if funding is truly being distributed with equity. Only if they are not then will both organizations have to re-write the formulas to improve upon them.

The Texas Republican position on education is to support the freedom of choice to pursue any means of education the parent desires, be it public, private, charter or homeschool (texasgop.org). I will work towards the implementation of a voucher system in my district to allow a greater freedom of choice to the parents. The system would be analogous to that of the voucher system used by Sweden. According to Anders Bohlmark and Mikael Lindahl, “We find that an increase in the share of independent-school students improves average performance at the end of compulsory school as well as long-run educational outcomes. We further find that the average effects stem primarily from external effects (eg,school competition)”. This system aligns with the desires of the Republican platform in maintaining

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.

Fair funding would ensure equality of educational opportunities for all children, regardless of background, family income, where they live, or where they attend school. Equal opportunity means that all children and all schools have access to the resources and services needed to provide them with the opportunity to learn (Baker,

This meaning that the poorer the people within the neighbor the poorer the school districts will be. Although this case shed some light, it failed under the federal Equal Protection analysis because education was not a “fundamental right” recognized by the Constitution and because the educationally disadvantaged poor did not constitute a “suspect classification.” The Court refused to overturn the school finance system on grounds of inequality. Equally notable, this case “virtually abdicated any role for the federal courts in guaranteeing educational rights under the Federal Constitution,” leaving future plaintiffs “to state courts and constitutions for the change they seek (www.schoolfunding.com).”

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the United States Supreme Court upheld racial segregation of passengers in railroad coaches as required by Louisiana law. Three years later the Supreme Court was asked to review its first school case dealing with equal treatment of school children. In Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899) the court found that the temporary cessation of services for minority high-school children did not violate equal protection even though services continued at the high-school for Caucasian children. The Court reasoned that the closing of the school was based on economic considerations, and was not found to represent bad faith or an abuse of discretion. The court concluded that although all must share the burdens and receive the benefits of taxation, school finance was a matter belonging to the states and federal interference without a clear and unmistakable disregard for constitutional rights would be inappropriate (Cambron-McCabe, McCarthy, & Thomas, 2004).

The major obstacle to giving parents access to school choice are public-sector labor unions that profit from a closed educational system. In non-right-to-work states, like Washington State, membership in the union (Washington Education Association, or WEA) is mandatory for most school district employees, and all public school teachers. Any teacher who does not make the required payments to the union (generally about $1,000 a year) is fired. The WEA sees allowing parents to have school choice as a threat, because if parents have a choice to send their child to a better performing school, they will take it, and that choice will weaken the union’s access to money and power that is has within a closed public education system. In Washington, the WEA has worked for years to close every charter school in the state. As of the time this

In the United States, public schools get their funding from their respective state. As a student, it can be seen as concerning when one compares how much states spend on their schools. Many schools are inadequate in both an aspect of safety and effectiveness of the learning environment. As a result of inadequate subsidy across America, schools resort to taking drastic measures. Not only are the unequal sources of subsidy a difficulty, but the concept and execution of budget cuts also exacerbate the issue. In order to give every student in America equal opportunities for success, funding should be controlled by the federal government with a policy that enforces equity rather than equality. This is also a viable option that could be carried

     Many people believe that there are many advantages to publicly-funded vouchers. One of these benefits is increased choice for schools. A tuition certificate, especially for low-income families, helps parents afford to choose a school suited to their child’s needs. This way, the child is guaranteed a decent education, no matter what his family background is. Greater competition is another one of the program’s advantages. As families gain the ability to choose the school their child attends, schools may have to improve to attract students. This would be very beneficial to the students in question. Another advantage is targeted assistance. School vouchers can be aimed at a particular struggling student population and offer assistance without changing the entire public education system. This is very beneficial to the child because his individual needs are attended to without reshaping the

When it comes to the important decision of selecting a school for their children, there are many factors a family needs to evaluate. One of the many factors facing today’s families are looking for the right school and which type would better meet the needs of their child, a private or public school. Some of the questions parents may ask themselves during this process are: What are the differences between public and private schools? Will it make an extensive difference in my child’s education? Which will provide the best education/social environment? What are the cost differences? Indeed, these are important questions to think about because this decision is going to impact the child’s education and have an effect on the child’s educational