Research Proposal

Research Proposal: Public School Funding

Introduction: For my research project, I am looking into funding of our public school systems. This topic has been a very popular topic in the news with many initiatives trying to be passed to benefit our school systems. For example, in our state Initiative 1351 will help decrease class sizes in our state, which ranks 47^th for having large classes sizes among the other states. This project will help highlight the benefits of funding for our schools and what the outcome would be and also go over where funding should come from and ideas to better budget. Questions that will be kept throughout the paper are: What would the effects be if funding was increased/decreased? What affects the funding of schools? Do cuts benefit schools or do they harm them? How would funding to schools be managed? What models could we follow to improve our school funding? What can individuals do to help improve funding? Improving our funding to public schools will benefit not only our students but also our society. 

Review of Literature:  Sources reviewed so far include “The Recession and Education: Seize New Opportunities,” by Alan Haskvitz, from a 2011 edition of Education Digest. This describes the benefits the recession can have on education and how instead of being a downfall it could actually improve education. Another source is “No Time for Old Tactics,” by Eamonn O’Donovan, from a 2010 article in District Administration. This article describes budget problems and cooperation between school management and unions needs to occur. Also puts more responsibility on the schools for funding rather then the government. A similar article is “California Districts Used Funding Flexibility to Save Jobs,” by American School & University published in 2012 an article in American School & University. Uses California as an example that uses 4.5 million dollars to save teachers jobs and balance budgets. Another article is “Aid Offers Opportunity to Keep Programs Aloft,” by Michele McNeil, published in 2010 in Education Week. Takes a county from Nevada and how they used federal stimulus funds to improve achievement through tutoring, professional development and credit recovery programs, also shows what funding could provide our schools when it is done right. A similar article to that is “Governors Make Pitch to Obama for Stimulus Money,” by Michele McNeil, published in 2008 in Education Week. Discusses ways US governors were pleading to have Obama pass an economic stimulus package to improve education finance. Another article is “Achieving Public Schools,” by Kathleen Knight Abowitz, published in 2011 in Educational Theory. This article describes what the function of public schools hold and government funding plays into that. The next article is “Beyond Equality and Adequacy: Equal Protection, Tax Assessments, and the Missouri Public School Funding Dilemma,” by Ronald K. Rowe II, published in 2010 in the Missouri Law Review. The article discusses a guarantee under the Missouri Constitution to provide free education to school age children.  Another article is “SCHOOL FINANCINIG IN OHIO YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: SEARCHING FOR A "THOROUGH AND EFFICIENT" SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOL,” by Unknown, published in 2007 in Case Western Reserve Law Review. Article describes how the financing systems for schools work and what changes have been proposed. Another article is “EDUCATION FUNDING AND THE ALABAMA EXAMPLE: ANOTHER PLAYER ON A CROWDED FIELD, by John Herbert Roth, published in 2003 by the Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal. This article describes how Alabama has proposed programs where students pay fees to participate in certain activities and the example they are leading. The last article is “School Reform: Linking Public School with Human Services,” by Cynthia Franklin and Calvin L. Streeter, published in 1995 in Social Work. This article discusses school reforms during the 90’s and the link between human services.

Plan to Collect Information: In addition to the sources collected so far, I will be looking for articles dealing with what is going on at state level to improve funding to our schools and what can be done. I will also be looking for more peer-reviewed articles like Education Week and Education Digest. Additionally to that, I will also be looking at scholars articles from JSTOR on the topic of funding of public education. I also am hoping to find some data about what the lack of funding does to our schools and show where the funding that is provided is used for. I would also like to find a table that shows class sizes and relate them to our state and other states surrounding us. I am hoping that I can find some of these visuals with more research done into Initiative 1351 and also find surrounding states that are taking similar action that our state is.

Project Timeline:  This coming week, I will spend a lot of time looking for additional sources that will help build my claim. I will also be working on my Annotated Bibliography that I will finish by November 4. For my Annotated Bibliography I will have to have at least 20 sources. I have most of those sources already, but doing some additional research will benefit me. After that, I will be working on my Lit Reviews, which I will have done by November 13 with at least 20 sources again. After finishing both of those I will begin to start my outline, rationale and abstract, which will be due on November 20. In-between working on these assignments it will help start to form my paper which I will need a Rough Draft of by November 25. Lastly, my final paper will be due on December 5 at midnight. 

Working Bibliography:

Abowitz, Kathleen Knight. "Achieving Public Schools." Educational Theory 61.4 (2011): 467-489. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Arocho, Joshua. "Inhibiting Intrastate Inequalities: A Congressional Approach To Ensuring Equal Opportunity To Finance Public Education." Michigan Law Review 112.8 (2014): 1479-1505. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

"Budget Woes Could Mean School Cutbacks." Education Week 28.15 (2008): 14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

"California Districts Used Funding Flexibility To Save Jobs." American School & University 84.11 (2012): 50. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Chakrabarti, Rajashri, and Sarah Sutherland. "New Jersey's Abbott Districts: Education Finances During The Great Recession." Current Issues In Economics & Finance 19.4 (2013): 1-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Franklin, Cynthia, and Calvin L. Streeter. "School Reform: Linking Public School With Human Services." Social Work 40.6 (1995): 773-782. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Gibson, Mark T., and Tom Bisschoff. "'Successful' Schools As Agents Of Inner City School Transformation In England." International Studies In Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council For Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)) 42.1 (2014): 3-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Green III, Preston C., Bruce D. Baker, and Joseph O. Oluwole. "Having It Both Ways: How Charter Schools Try To Obtain Funding Of Public Schools And The Autonomy Of Private Schools." Emory Law Journal 63.2 (2013): 303-337. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

HASKVITZ, ALAN. "THE RECESSION AND EDUCATION: Seize New Opportunities!." Education Digest 76.5 (2011): 57-59. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Jaekyung, Lee. "Dual Standards Of School Performance And Funding? Empirical Searches Of School Funding Adequacy In Kentucky And Maine." Education Economics 18.2 (2010): 207-228. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Lytton, Michael. "Have All The Costs Of Closing A School Been Considered?." CELE Exchange. Centre For Effective Learning Environments 2011.5-8 (2011): 1-4. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Green III, Preston C., Bruce D. Baker, and Joseph O. Oluwole. "Having It Both Ways: How Charter Schools Try To Obtain Funding Of Public Schools And The Autonomy Of Private Schools." Emory Law Journal 63.2 (2013): 303-337. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

McNeil, Michele. "Governors Make Pitch To Obama For Stimulus Money." Education Week 28.15 (2008): 14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

 O'Donovan, Eamonn. "No Time For Old Tactics." District Administration 46.5 (2010): 56-57. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Roth, John Herbert. "Education Funding And The Alabama Example: Another Player On A Crowded Field." Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal 2 (2003): 739. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

ROWE II, RONALD K. "Beyond Equality And Adequacy: Equal Protection, Tax Assessments, And The Missouri Public School Funding Dilemma." Missouri Law Review 75.3 (2010): 1037-1066. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

"SCHOOL FINANCINIG IN OHIO YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: SEARCHING FOR A "THOROUGH AND EFFICIENT" SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (Cover Story)." Case Western Reserve Law Review 57.3 (2007): 671-716. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Works Cited:

Abowitz, Kathleen Knight. "Achieving Public Schools." Educational Theory 61.4 (2011): 467-489. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

"California Districts Used Funding Flexibility To Save Jobs." American School & University 84.11 (2012): 50. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

HASKVITZ, ALAN. "THE RECESSION AND EDUCATION: Seize New Opportunities!." Education Digest 76.5 (2011): 57-59. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

McNeil, Michele. "Governors Make Pitch To Obama For Stimulus Money." Education Week 28.15 (2008): 14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

O'Donovan, Eamonn. "No Time For Old Tactics." District Administration 46.5 (2010): 56-57. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Roth, John Herbert. "Education Funding And The Alabama Example: Another Player On A Crowded Field." Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal 2 (2003): 739. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

ROWE II, RONALD K. "Beyond Equality And Adequacy: Equal Protection, Tax Assessments, And The Missouri Public School Funding Dilemma." Missouri Law Review 75.3 (2010): 1037-1066. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

"SCHOOL FINANCINIG IN OHIO YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: SEARCHING FOR A "THOROUGH AND EFFICIENT" SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (Cover Story)." Case Western Reserve Law Review 57.3 (2007): 671-716. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.