Public school funding

Public schools in the United States of America provide basic education from kindergarten until the twelfth grade. This is provided free of charge for the students and parents, and it is mandated by the state. With the completion of this basic schooling, one obtains a high school diploma as certification of basic skills for employers.^[1] Although free to the population, many do not finish and obtain their diplomas due to personal hardships and differences in educational quality and available materials across different school districts.

Local property taxes provide most of the funding for public school and this varies in accordance to the relative affluence of each neighbourhood. Reduced funding can limit available electives, or advanced placement courses. Cases such as these limit students and causes inequality in education because there is no easy way to gain access to those courses since the education system might not view them as necessary. The public education system does provide the classes needed to obtain a General Education Development (GED) and obtain a job or pursue higher education.^[2] Most of the disadvantaged population includes those in a lower income city or neighborhood. This population mostly deals with minorities. As Kozol talks about in his book, racial inequality, school infrastructure, as well as neighborhoods, play a big factor in who gets funded more or less. Some of these kids end up dropping out because they do not have support from parents or school faculty.^[3]

State and Local role in Education Funding

According to the US department of Education, the Federal Government contributes about 8% to funding US public schools. To fund the remaining balance per student in the public education System, state and local governments are mandated to allocate money towards education.^[4] The state allocates a percentage of its revenue, from sales and income tax, to use towards education. The funds that are set aside for education are determined by the State constitutions, Propositions, and the incoming Government officials. According to the National Conference of state Legislatures, States provide structure, equality, fiscal accountability, stability and support to the public education systems per state. Each state varies the level of support that the schools receive with the implementation of legislation.^[5]

The Local government allocates education funding from the revenue generated by property tax and other fundraising efforts. Local officials have the ability to influence the rate of change of property taxes that are used to fund local expenditures, including education.^[6]

Due to the varied levels of income throughout states and within local communities, education funding suffers from inequalities where some communities have excessive funding and others are lacking important resources to support students. According to the research on Equity and Adequacy in School Funding, “much of the current litigation and legislative activity in education funding seeks to assure “adequacy”, that is, a sufficient level of funding to deliver an adequate education to every student in the state.”^[7]

Finding a Solution to Education Inequality

Because income and tax revenue varies so widely from state to state, the current school funding model has led to a huge disparity in the funding that schools in different parts of a single state receive. Primarily, schools in affluent areas receive more funding as compared to those located in low-income areas. Overall, this model presents a challenge to schools situated in low-income areas because performance measures can be tied to this funding approach. Low-income areas have comparatively lower property and income taxes hence affecting the funding of the schools. Poor school performance in low-income areas has a direct causal relationship with the low income and property taxes hence the need for a change in the approach to funding. A solution to the identified problem is to distribute wealth evenly to allow better funding models for public schools. Derisma (2013) claimed that “using state taxes to fund public education has the potential to create funding insecurities. To begin, state tax revenues are largely generated from income and sales taxes. Income and sales tax revenue are not stable sources and have the propensity to drop in times of recession” (p. 122)^[8]. The claim shows that funding insecurities in low-income areas are likely to inconvenience those living in those areas and children in school face the same issue. Instead of condemning children from low-income areas to this life, it is logical to uplift them through providing more equitable funding to them. Since the poor academic performance in low-income areas has been linked to low funding, it is crucial to consider consolidating school districts to even out the effects of the disparities. This consolidation can also be accompanied by the spreading of funds among schools to avoid the disparities where one school may receive less than half the funding that other schools receive. Also, we can institute transparency for the annual district wide budgeting by releasing digital dashboards annually, which will illustrate budget allocations and strategic priorities. With this kids will receive the proper funds for educational experiences and ensure that money will trickle where it should be. Also, this will build trust within our school districts. Lastly, holding the board accountable by fixing what's wrong so kids can get what they deserve. By implementing these proposals, the foundations of better academic performance in low-income areas can be set.

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