Lack of Education Funding Essay

I believe that school funding equality is very important. Public school funding comes from federal, state and local sources. The federal government has tried to come up with solutions to this problem. The fact that our schools are mostly funded by property taxes, more affluent taxpayers believe that the money should stay in their districts. Most Americans are unaware that other nations, do not fund public schools with local property taxes, rather they use general tax revenues to provide equal per student funding.

“Education is a major driver of development and is a strong instrument for reducing poverty, improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability” (The World Bank) - so why is it that students are often deprived from an extensive education? In Illinois, education funding has been an ongoing problem. Funding for schools is based on the property taxes where the schools are located, causing those who live in lower socioeconomic areas to receive less educational funding. This is unfair because children who live in lower socioeconomic areas are not able to receive the same opportunities and benefits that are acquired when a quality education is obtained. This is why educational funding in Illinois should be distributed evenly so that every

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Currently, 38 states distribute some education funds on the basis of poverty. (Carey 3) In the 2001 – 2002 school year, "a total of 75 separate programs in those states distributed $8.7 billion to schools." (3) Funding in states for poverty based education varies significantly in terms of size, focus, and method of funding. Thirteen states provide

Inadequate funding is a major downfall of the No Child Left Behind act. Under this policy, state and local education agencies endured demands that required massive amounts of funding to comply. The funding for these demands were never available. Entrepreneurs of this policy often expressed the existence of low funding yet high demand under this policy. Senator Ted Kennedy was very vocal in advocating for the need of funding to make this policy effective. In an interview regarding this matter Kennedy stated, "the tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not" (Antle, 2005). Because of the lack of funding public schools nationwide fail under this policy. Poorly funded schools under this act have a harder

Not only are impoverished children suffering from a late start in education, it is known that the neediest schools are the schools who's students are below the poverty line. The students with the greatest needs receive the least funding and resources. In New York the average poor student will receive about $1,000 year in resources at public school; whereas the school's with the least amount of poor children receive around $3,000 per student in public schools. Not necessarily the same number wise but this is the case in at least 37 of our 50 states (Schemo). Inadequate education for impoverished children only worsens their chances of making it out of poverty.

This is a major problem, and it reflects in today's classrooms. We challenge educators to "reach every child" or "provide a fair and equal education," but we aren't provided with "fair and equal" resources. The unequal education funding is effecting the students that need it the most. The students that are effected by this are the kids that live in poverty everyday. They deal with having less than other kids their age every day, and then they have to go to school and receive less

School funding is a mix of different funding sources like federal, state, and local. About ninety percent of funding for education comes from state and local community. K-12 education has failed to keep up with high enrollment. Schools must spend to counter effects of poverty while many European countries alleviate these conditions through government spending. Currently more than forty percent of low income school get an extremely unfair share of state and local funds. Low income school are receiving inadequate funds for their school, whereas other schools in the United States are unfairly distributing their state and local funds. That is unfair to the low income schools because those schools really need the money for school books, field trips, etc. Funding for public schools has been quite unequal for years, but even though Americans are fully aware of this issue no one does anything to solve it. Researchers are trying to show them both sides of this unequal funding issue in public schools in order to help balance the distribution of educational funding.

Educating students was not a major priority before the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001.   Instead the government’s priority was to monitor how federal funds were spent  and there was no focus on utilizing federal funds to improve the education conditions that existed during that time (Guthrie et al, 2008).  In addition, federal government did not always have an interest in whether school systems were successful in raising academic performance for all students and therefore gave states the autonomy to make decisions about the educational needs of each school district.  The federal government provided land and other funding, but did not intrude on state’s rights to make decisions about curriculum in its schools  (Savage & Standerfer,

“ Historically, low-income students as a group have performed less well than high-income students on most measures of academic success” (Reardon, 2013). Typically low-income families come from low-income parts of the state making a school that does not have as much funding as a higher economic schools does lack in resources for their students. The school then has lower paid teachers and administrators, with lower quality supplies. This results in a school which typically has faculty who do not perform as well as the well-funded schools. “The law fails to address the pressing problems of unequal educational resources across schools serving wealthy and poor children” (Hammond, 2007). Students from low and high income families will not be able to achieve the same education because their education simply is not the same.

President Bush’s apparent prioritizing of schools is the positive stance for the federal government to take on this issue, especially at a time when domestic concerns could be overshadowed by global tensions and war activities. At first glance, one may be reassured by the

One of the greatest differences among public schools is the funding they receive. Public schools across the country have incredibly varied amounts of capital dedicated to them which in turn leads to a disparity in the quality of education a student will receive at these schools. The race of a student, the location they live in, and the wealth of their family greatly correlate to the level of education they will receive. As Harvard professor Jennifer L. Hochschild notes, “Districts with a lot of poor students have lower average test scores and higher dropout rates...The highest spending districts report high test scores, and some of the lowest spending districts report the lowest test scores” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). The students who attend schools that receive less funding typically obtain an education that is lesser in comparison to schools that receive more money. The inequality in funding within a state has a severe impact on the variation of education quality. In the case of Connecticut, “The district that spends the most provides almost twice as much per student as the district that spends the least” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). As a result, the schools that receive less funding work with more outdated textbooks and equipment, while schools with more funding can afford to buy new equipment and provide a better environment for the

Many times, the kids who are in the most need receive the least aid. Every citizen should have the right to receive not only a decent education, but an excellent education. Students should have more motivation to go to school and learn and strive to understand more complex issues. In my experience, everyone at my high school could not wait for the bell to be dismissed. Students shouldn’t be waiting in agony for class to be dismissed so they can flee from the classroom. School shouldn’t be a place where, upon graduating, students rejoice in the comfort that they will never have to spend another minute in the classrooms of their high school. The schools of our nation should be in so successful that children cannot wait to get into the classroom and begin learning. Students should feel hungry for knowledge and be dead set on achieving academic proficiency.

Kids in America have been educated in public schools for years. Public education most certainly is not cheap though, as in 2017 the education budget was approximately $69.4 billion(). Many believe this is a little extreme and wish to lower the education budget, but that would only make things worse. Education is one of the most important things in a civilization, and it is vital that its well funded. However, much of the funding is going towards all the wrong things and America, despite spending more on education than most other countries, is only slightly above average when it comes to student performance(). The education system needs to be fixed by increasing the budget and putting it towards more practical things.

The American system has undergone several commendable reforms in the past. However, some factors still remain wanting and in need of more aggressive action to address. The unequal distribution of funds for schools has been a practice thought to be one that suits all schools. To the contrary, this method of fund distribution has raised other pertinent issues that suggest it should be revised. There is also concern over the large student-teacher ratio at these learning institutions, which lead to very large class sizes. Education policies governing states concerning the maximum class size are common in the American K – 12 education system. The introduction of standardized release of funds to schools and the lowering of