Abstract

 

Abstract:

The Public School System has one goal, to educate our youth. The one problem with this is it isn’t meeting its goal. Our schools are underfunded and can’t financially support what they are meant to do. The problem we need to solve is providing our schools with more funding and understanding how schools are funded. By solving this problem we are able to provide smaller classes, more teachers and depict education the way it should be. This paper involved in-depth research to help provide evidence on why funding is so important. Many of the sources that will be discussed deal with schools that are underfunded at the beginning but receive funding and the benefits that come from increased funding. There will be proposed solutions to solve this budget crisis. Those are to model off of other countries that are able to fund their schools and maintain a well-rounded school system and also learn from our mistakes. If funding is increased it doesn’t mean our problems are solved. This is just the beginning of a very long journey. Money doesn’t solve problems but if it is used wisely it can help be a stepping-stone to solving a problem

Outline

 

Public School Funding Outline:

I)                    Introduction: I provide an overview on my topic, which I follow with my thesis statement:

A)     Background information about the way our schools are funded.

i)          There is unfairness everywhere, even with school funding. This causes a problem because the views of state and federal ideals for schools typically clash, which are the two main sources of school funding. (Arocho)

B)     Support that provides why schools need increased funding.

i)                    New Jersey’s Abbott District is a low-income area that required special services when the recession hit and compares three groups of students and the effects that occurred during the time of lack of funding. (Sutherland and Charkrabarti)

C)     What the future of our schools could look like if we increase cuts/funding.

i)                    With cuts increasing we can see the school days becoming shorter, the classrooms larger, less teachers, less staff and less learning. (“Budget Woes Could Mean School Cutbacks.”)

D)     Thesis Statement:  The best way to save our school systems is to understand where we are failing and to start from the beginning, while many believe that just throwing money at the problem will fix it they are mistaken, taking accountability and funding our schools properly is the right start onto a successful path.

II)                  Background: In order to understand the issues with the funding to schools, it is important to understand where funding comes from and how it is provided to schools.

A)     Schools are funded from the state, government or both.

i)                    This is where you see a huge gap in expectations for schools to receive funding. To receive federal funding the school must meet at least one of sixteen priorities to receive funding.  (Rust)

ii)                  There is also unfairness with how schools are funded. The majority of the funding comes from property taxes, which can create a one district to have a much larger funding package compared to the school district next door. ((Sutherland and Charkrabarti)

B)     Schools can also gain/lose funding due to certain initiatives/acts.

i)                    One such act is the No Child Left Behind Act, which involved the federal government involvement in funding of our schools. Which caused issues dealing with funding with all of the requirements the act called for. (Ellis) 

ii)                  In the state of Washington, the Initiative 1351 was placed on the ballot to decrease class size. For this to occur funding to schools would have to be increased to account for the extra staff that will make smaller classes feasible. (washingtonpolicy.org)

iii)                California also passed a Proposition 30, which required a tax hike to fund education.

III)                Support: Understanding the positive aspects that can come from increased funding while also taking a look at why decreased funding may be a short-term positive affect.

A)     Why increased funding is important?

i)                    Using New Jersey’s Abbott District as an example of when funds were increased the success of the students also increased.  (Chakrabarti and Sutherland)  

ii)                  When funding is decreased schools are shut down. Impacts of school closures have a huge impact on students. Brings details up that go into depth about what is considered before schools are closed. (Lytton)

iii)                The term “Pay to Play” is a popular term that is known for being able to participate in extracurricular activities. This allows these extracurricular activities to be continued without causing them to be shut down because of budget cuts. (Roth)

B)     What positives can be gained from decreased funding?

i)                    Many believe that only negative things can come from a reduce school budget. But, if you look at it in a optimistic way you can find some positives: (Haskvitz)

a)      More Educated Teachers

b)      Mentoring/Tutoring

c)      Lower Drop Out Rate

IV)               Future: Where can we go?

A)     A positive path.

i)                    Learning from others around us could make the public school systems work in a more positive manner. Using England as an example, we could introduce sponsored schools called “academies” to our school system and find features that would realistically work in our schools. (Gibson and Bisschoff)

ii)                  Understanding that funding isn’t the only thing that will fix our school systems. Communication is key to fixing any problem that is reoccurring. (O’Donovan)

B)     A negative path.

i) If cuts keep occurring our schools will fall further behind. We will see more layoffs, shorter school days, larger classes and more extracurricular classes/activities to be cut. (“Budget Woes Could Mean School Cutbacks.”)

V)                 Conclusion: Our education system is falling apart. We are failing our students and we are going backwards rather than pushing forward. Increasing funding to our schools won’t be a quick fix that will solve all our problems but it is the first step. Taking this step will allow the education system to build and create new opportunities we once were unable to do. 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale

Public School Funding Research Rationale:

            I begin my paper by announcing my topic and issue (Public School Funding) and explaining why I’m writing about it (to call attention). The points I will be making are background information about Public Schools, support for increasing funding and what the future of our schools could look like. I want to highlight these three subtopics in my paper because I think it is important that my audience understand these to understand the argument I am trying to make. This will allow my audience to understand why I am arguing this and why this is important. Stating my thesis statement at the end of my introduction will allow my audience to have an idea of what I will be discussing in my paper and make me look like a strong candidate to discuss the topic.

            The next section my paper will focus further on is the background on our schools. Going further into depth so my readers’ grasp the full understanding of what is involved in funding schools and so on. I want to provide my readers with a very basic overview of the way the school system works and highlight key ideas dealing with funding. I have broken this section up into two categories. The first category discusses how schools are funded, from the state, government or both. I find this to be highly important for my readers to understand because if they don’t understand the way schools are funded they won’t understand the issues. For my paper to be successful I need to emphasize on why this is so important. Here I will use sources that provide an overview of what is involved when the federal government is involved to fund schools and the unfairness that occurs with state funding to schools. The next part I will be discussing is how schools can gain/lose funding due to certain initiatives/acts being passed or denied. This will allow my readers to see the power they have when they cast a vote and also what the outcome of those is. Both these categories tie together and make a very information filled paragraph that will allow my readers to form an opinion and is key for their understanding.

            The next section I move on to is the support that is provided to increase the funding to public schools. I will begin by using a source that is describing why increasing funding is important, which I will provide sources that back that claim up. Showing this will show my readers why it is important to have well funded schools and what the effects can be when funding isn’t taken seriously.  In this part of my paragraph I will use examples of underfunded schools, discuss school closures and talk about extracurricular activities. My next section in this paragraph is going to involve a counter argument. Here I will look at why some may see the positive gains from decreased funding. This is where I will acknowledge these claims but I will disclaim they quite quickly. The purpose of doing this is to highlight the other side but disclaim it with my side. This is important because my readers need to hear the other side of the argument but they also need to understand why that side isn’t as strong as the side that I am arguing. The purpose of this is to emphasize why funding is important and creates a cause and effect type theme.

            The last section I will be discussing for this paper is what the future for our schools is. This is my last chance to convince my audience to pick my side.  I will be showing a positive path in where our schools can go and a negative path. Both of these paths depend on what decisions we make. First I will highlight the positive path our schools can take. Here I will bring up how we can learn from others. I will bring up England and their use of funded “academies” and how we could use this to model onto our own education system. Another important concept I want to bring up in this paragraph is that funding isn’t the only thing that will fix our school systems. That funding is a start but it won’t fix all of our problems. I find this to be important because I want my readers to understand that extra funding isn’t the only thing our school system needs, it is one of many things that it needs. After presenting them with the positive side, I will show them the negative path our schools could go down. This is to give them an idea if we don’t change anything and continue to go down the same path. Here I bring up if cuts continue everything will continue to go downhill.  I want them to have an image in their head when they are reading. I want them to understand the seriousness of this and why it is important. This will be last chance to provide them with facts that will help build my case. This makes my audience pick a side. They either want to continue down a slippery slope or start-figuring things out that will benefit not only the schools but also themselves.

            In my conclusion I will say that we have to see our education system is falling apart. We are no longer doing our job. I will end my paper with a thoughtful ending that if we do something now new opportunities will open up for us in the future.

Rough Draft Workshop

Rough Draft Workshop

1.      For my research project, I am looking into the funding of our public school systems. This topic has been a very popular 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 47th 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. Sources for my project will fall into the following categories support, background information and what the future of our schools could look like.

2.      The larger subject area was the issues with our public school system. I narrowed it down to funding because it has been in the news lately with many initiatives trying to be passed. Our education system has been under a microscope lately and I thought I would bring attention to why school funding should be increased.

3.      I narrowed my topic from the public school system to the funding of our schools, because I saw that many of the problems with our schools are linked back to underfunding and mismanaged money.

4.      The information I searched and collected for was mainly done through the online database through OC. I found this to be a lot more reliable than websites that I found from Google. The main sources I will be referring to in my paper will be from the sources I collected from the database.

5.      My main threads are support, background and the future. I broke my sources into these three categories because I thought it would give my audience the best understanding for this particular topic. To begin, the support category includes reasons why increased funding in schools should be supported. For example, the sources help me show the relationship funding has with education and also the effects lack of funding has on students. I find this to be important because I want my audience to not just see facts and numbers, but also the stories of students who haven’t been given a good education experience. Within these sources I found a source that counters all the others. This source talks about the positives that the recessions has had on the public school system. I found this important because it shows a perspective that many of us never would think of. With a lot of his points being valid and thought out, but I don’t know if over a long course of time this would have any positives. Most of the voices that occur throughout my sources are from educators themselves that have dealt with the education system.

My next category is about background information dealing with the public school system. This section of my paper provides more detail into what goes into funding schools and the way that process works. I find this to be highly important, because I want my audience to understand what is involved in funding a school and how it isn’t a simple process. For my audience to fully understand my paper and for it to build they need to understand on the way funding works and occurs. In here I include detail and even some loopholes that occur in funding and also the relationship that our school systems have with other systems. These are important to me because with this category I don’t want it to be cluttered with facts and numbers, but I want them to see other important factors that are considered and so on.   

My last category is discussing the future of our public schools. With all the discussion about facts and issues I thought I could give my audience a peek of what the future could hold for our schools. I find this to be a very important part of my essay because I tie everything together and I also introduce some new information. I give them an idea of what the future looks like when schools are better funded and also what we learn from our mistakes and look at a model that I think we could realistically do here in the US.

6.      I haven’t started my draft yet. But, I plan to include depth in places that I believe the audience will struggle in understanding and using quotes and examples. The one area I plan on doing this in is the background section of my paper. I find this to be important because this is where the heart of my paper is. If my audience doesn’t understand this they will struggle with my entire paper.

Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter 17 discusses revising and editing. This chapter is broken down into four sections that go into detail about what you should focus on when revising your document, strategies for revising, what you should focus on when editing your document and what strategies you should use to edit.  These are very important to keep in mind because these are key to improving your paper. For me personally, I really struggle editing and revising my own work. This chapter has really helped give me ideas on how I can do this on my own. When you are revising your document focus on your writing situation, your argument/ideas, your sources, structure and organization of your essay and lastly keep in mind the genre and design. With revising you just want to look at your essay as whole and find the large problems that stand out rather than the little ones. Some strategies you can use to revise are making/saving multiple drafts of your paper, highlight your main points, challenge your own assumptions, scan your entire paper and have someone else to look over it to find problems you have missed. Now, when you are editing your paper you are looking at the involvement of the words on your paper. You want the words to be accurate, effective and appropriate which will fit your argument. When editing you should focus on the accuracy, economy, consistency, style, and grammar/spelling/punctuation. Lastly, this chapter discusses what strategies you should use to edit. Unlike revising, editing is where you are constantly combing through your essay. Some strategies to keep in mind are careful reading, mark the document where you find errors, look over spelling/grammar/style, and ask for feedback. Like I mentioned before, it is easy for you to miss areas where you have errors, but when you have another pair of eyes looking over it it's easier to spot the error. This chapter is key to having a successful paper. Being able to revise and edit is an important skill that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

Literature Review

For my research project, I am looking into the funding of our public school systems. This topic has been a very popular 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 47th 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. Sources for my project will fall into the falling categories support, background information and what the future of our schools could look like.

                A number of sources fit into the support category, but more specifically in the way funding occurs and the relationship funding has with education in a whole. One such source is Kathleen Knight Abowitz’s article “Achieving Public Schools,” published in 2011. This article helps provide the relationship between our government and our public school system. It describes how we as people are “customers” of our school systems. We pay taxes which support our schools and in return we should get what we want out of it. Also, details about how both systems need to work together to produce a working environment for students. I will use this source as a neutralizer, meaning that for public schools to work they need to be backed by the government and vice versa. Another article that discuses government involvement is by Jennifer Reboul Rust, titled "Investing In Integration: A Case For "Promoting Diversity" In Federal Education Funding Priorities," published 2013. This article brings up another case that deals with funding of public education in Seattle. This article discusses federal funding and how one of the requirements to receive federal funding is school diversity. This is one of sixteen priorities for schools to receive federal funding.  Many see this as a problem because they see it as racial discrimination and judgment of their socioeconomic standing. I will be using this in my paper to provide understanding to what federal funding is and how the results played out in Seattle. I think is important for my audience to understand what schools go through to receive federal funding and how this supports our schools. Another article that also deals with funding issues and government involvement is "School Financing In Ohio Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow: Searching For A "Thorough And Efficient" System Of Public Schools. (Cover Story),” published in 2007. Similar to the article by Rowe, this article also deals with a case of the state Ohio vs. DeRolph (funding schools), which was a 13-year battle brought up because many believed that Ohio’s way of funding the schools was unconstitutional by the Thorough and Efficient Clause. I will be using this in my paper to help me understand more of the laws dealing with funding our public education and also as an example of what we can do. In hopes of finding an article that would describe the process the government goes through to fund projects, like schools, I found an article by Michele McNeil, titled "Governors Make Pitch To Obama For Stimulus Money," published in 2008. This article discusses the cuts many infrastructure projects were facing. Unfortunately, this article is less than a page long and doesn’t provide me with adequate information on my topic. I will not be using this source for my paper. With this source I found another source that uses a well thought out idea to fund their schools in Alabama.  A source that helps shed some light on a more positive aspect of budget cuts is an article by Alan Haskvitz, “The Recession And Education: Seize New Opportunities,” published in 2011. This source is very different from my other sources because it discusses the benefits the recession can have on education. It has a very unique perspective, since many believe that a lower budget means all negative it could actually have some slight positive benefits. This can help me show a brighter side to budget cuts, but also show that with these small things bigger things are being ignored. I will be using this in my paper to highlight some positive aspects from budget cuts and will help me provide a counter-argument. These articles show how the support of government involvement is key and needs to be done effectively to achieve the best possible solution.

Some other articles that fit in the support category, but deal with more of the effects on the students rather than the process of funding. This allows me to show the real struggles that students face with the lack of funding. An article that helps show the effects that budget cuts have on students is an article by Rajashri Chakrabarti and Sarah Sutherland, titled "New Jersey's Abbott Districts: Education Finances During The Great Recession," published in 2013. This article targets New Jersey’s Abbott District and what occurred during our latest recession. The unique thing about the Abbott district is that it is a low income area that was receiving funding and special services before the recession hit. It goes on to compare three groups of students and the effects that occurred during the lack of funding. I can incorporate this in my paper because it gives me evidence of the effects budget cuts has on students and why this is a problem. This article helps support how lack of funding can effect students using an example of a real school. Many believe that funding to schools can be used a reward system, an article that can help support that is an article by Lee Jaekyung, titled “Dual Standards Of School Performance And Funding? Empirical Searches Of School Funding Adequacy In Kentucky And Maine," published in 2010. This article brings up an interesting idea of how school performance and funding relate to one another. This article follows Kentucky and Maine to discuss the difference in test scores and the difference of funding. It brings up an important question, if schools should be rewarded for having a high performance rate or vice versa? I will use this in my paper to discuss other ways schools are funded and refer to this as an example. Playing off the idea of rewarding schools for good performance, do we really fully consider the consequences of closing schools? The next article that discusses this is an article by Michael Lytton, titled "Have All The Costs Of Closing A School Been Considered?” published in 2011. This article discusses if all measures have been taken before shutting down schools. It breaks down what typically goes into closing a school. It also brings up the impacts of closing schools has on the community. I will be using this in my paper to support why schools shouldn’t be closed and bring up the support from this article. This allows me to show my audience what lack of funding causes for schools and in the end how the lack of funds affects students. This article by John Herbert Roth, titled "Education Funding And The Alabama Example: Another Player On A Crowded Field," published in 2003. This article brings up the interesting topic of students paying for extracurricular activities, which here in Washington students pay to participate in sports and so on. This article also gives an overview of public education law and the conditions of the schools/school systems. I will be using this in my paper to help show that this “Pay to Play” idea hasn’t been around for long and what the benefits of it are. I find this article to be very beneficial to my paper because it allows the schools to produce a source of income. These articles allow me to paint an image for my audience to understand what students face when a school is underfunded.

Another category my sources fit into is background information about our school system, but in further detail about how funding works and some loopholes that have occurred. One such source is an article by Joshua Arocho, titled “Inhibiting Intrastate Inequalities: A Congressional Approach To Ensuring Equal Opportunity To Finance Public Education,” published 2014. This article brings up the unfairness of funding of schools throughout the states. Also discusses how most of the funding that goes to schools deals with property tax and how that fluctuates the funding between states and so on. Again, he brings up the clashing views of federal and state and how that affects schools. I will use this source by providing my audience with information about school funding and where the funds come from. This will allow me to give them an understanding of how that process works and how some changes may be beneficial. Another article that will provide my audience with background information is “No Child Left Behind--A Critical Analysis,” by Charles R. Ellis, published in 2007. It brings up the act that was emplaced when Bush was in office, which had a huge impact on the education system.  It looks into the involvement the federal government has had in regards to our school and most importantly the impact it has had on funding schools. I will be using this in my paper to provide information on what happens when an act like this is emplaced and what the outcomes are. Another article that deals with certain measures taken by the state of California is an article by Eamonn O’Donovan, titled "New Money And Old Challenges In The Golden State," published in 2013. This article discusses the measure that California has taken with passing Proposition 30, which discusses how a temporary tax hike will occur to fund education. It goes into further detail on what this money will be used for to help restore in the schools. I will use this as an example of what Washington State should do and compare it to the initiative 1351 which deals with smaller class sizes in our state. Background information on the California proposition can help show my audience the benefits they have and why they are important. For my audience to understand the whole cycle on funding they need to understand some background information that plays off the support category. This provides them with a more realistic understanding with things that have and haven’t worked and how we can learn from the failed attempts. 

Articles that also fit into the background information category, but more specifically discuss the relationship between our school system and other important factors that play in. One of these sources is an article that looks more at the social aspect of school and how they are linked. This article by Cynthia Franklin and Calvin Streeter, titled "School Reform: Linking Public School With Human Services," published in 1995. It discusses the link between public schooling and social services. Even though this article was published in 1995 it still has an interesting perspective on the idea of bringing the two together. It also can service as a way to discuss of past reforms and why and why not they worked or didn’t work. I will use this is in my paper to provide an understanding to what reforms were taking place and how certain ones would have benefited. An article that provides detailed background information about Charter Schools is an article by Preston Green III, Bruce Baker and Joseph Oluwole, titled "Having It Both Ways: How Charter Schools Try To Obtain Funding Of Public Schools And The Autonomy Of Private Schools," published in 2013. Unfortunately, this article doesn’t investigate the topic I am looking into. This article goes into detail about Charter Schools and what they are. The authors spend a good amount discussing the legal action that has been taken for Charter schools. The difference between charter schools and public schools is that charter schools don’t have to abide by the same rules that public schools do. This raises questions because they are being funded by the state as are public schools, but don’t need to meet the same requirements. I will not be using this article in my paper. The last article I will discusses is an article by Jordan Reel and Walter Block, titled "Public Education: Who Is It For?" published in 2012. This article looks at the history of our public education system and the way it was constructed. It brings up some interesting ideas of how our school systems were designed and so forth. This will be useful to help see the other ways other countries design their schools and find a difference that may be \linked to funding. I will be using this in my paper to provide a background of our education and how that is useful to us. This will allow me to show my audience how our school system was designed to help provide them with information that will benefit them in understanding my argument. This section allows me to show that not everything about schools deals with funding. Even though my main argument is to increase funding I’d like to show some other ways schools can be reformed and what the future could hold.

                The last category my sources fit into is what the future of our schools could like, more importantly what the future of better-funded schools could look like. One such source is an article published by Education Week, titled "Budget Woes Could Mean School Cutbacks," published in 2008. This article brings up with budgets being cut we can come to a safe conclusion that layoffs will occur, programs are cut, teachers lose their benefits, school days become shorter and less time is spent in the classroom. This article is explaining what cuts mean to schools and the result of them. I can use this in my paper by painting an image for my audience. Giving them an idea of what increasing cuts looks like in the classroom and what that means for schools. This will also help show if budgets are continued to be cut what that will look like also. It will help show the extremes of the spectrum. An article I have decided not to use in my paper, but fits in this category is an article published by American School & University, titled "California Districts Used Funding Flexibility To Save Jobs," published in 2014. This article discusses some measures that California used to save jobs from being cut. It also talks about how students prefer teachers that use technology in the classroom compared to teachers that don’t. This article doesn’t provide me with adequate information that I need for my paper. It also doesn’t provide me with enough details dealing with their budget. Therefore, I will not be using this article as a source in my paper. But, what I did like about this article is it discussed technology in the classroom that will just have increased presence as technology advances. With many believing that budgets are the main idea behind the future of our schools an article that shows another side is "No Time For Old Tactics," by Eamonn O’Donovan, published in 2010.  This article tackles what many people believe to be the problem behind lack of funding to our schools. The author of this article brings up the fact there may be lack of communication between school management and then the labor unions. Also, with budgets being under such a close eye of the public with the recent recession also makes it a touchy situation. I will be using this in my paper to propose a solution. This article will help show that money isn’t going to be the only way to make our schools have a brighter future. Communication and management also need to improve to get the outcomes that we desire. These articles provide examples on how we can achieve to better our schools and the reoccurring answer is better funding. Even though funding won’t fix all of the flaws in our school system it can definitely make some drastic changes.

Theses sources also fit into the category of what the future looks like for our schools, but instead these articles are more lessons that we can learn for our mistakes and also model what England has done. An article that could help inspire the future of our schools is the article by Mark Gibson and Tom Bisschoff, titled "'Successful' Schools As Agents Of Inner City School Transformation In England," published in 2014. This article discusses sponsored schools in England. These schools are different from other schools, in other words they become “Academies” and are managed by the sponsor. From what I drew from this article is these academies are similar to our charter schools. This article also follows two schools that are using the systems to describe how they work. I will use this in my paper to use as an example of other ways to fund our schools and make the decision if this would realistically work. This could also be the key to making schools successful in the future. The last article that will help tie together this category is an article by Ronald Rowe II, titled "Beyond Equality And Adequacy: Equal Protection, Tax Assessments, And The Missouri Public School Funding Dilemma," published in 2010. This article discusses a fight in Missouri that occurred over funding of public education. The case was Committee for Educational Equality vs. State of Missouri, where the apparent constitution of Missouri would provide free education to students under the age of 21. This article goes into further detail in how the funding of public education was challenged and how it was seen an invalid. I will be using this in my paper to help shed some light on how this could have been done more realistically and what we could learn from this example in our education system. I think there is a lesson to learn from this and if we could pull this off it would truly benefit our education system. This is something I would hope our education system could pull of and make it reality. These two articles help make an image of what our schools could look like and some ideas on how we could achieve it. 

Public education has been under the microscope lately and it will continue to get bad reputation unless changes are made. My goal for this paper is to provide my audience with sources that support the idea of why funding plays such a huge role in our school system. By showing them support for the cause, providing background information about the public school system and showing them a glimpse of what the future could hold for our schools I hope they understand why change needs to occur. Our schools are what build our communities and help shape the next generation, we need to give the respect the schools systems deserve and hear their voice.

Chapter 13 Summary

Chapter 13 discusses organizing your paper. This chapter goes over which organizing patter you should choose, how to arrange your argument and creating an outline. Having a well organized paper is important because it will help the reader anticipate or predict what will come next. There are many options you have when choosing a pattern to follow when you are organizing your paper. These are meant to help you construct your paper so your information is shown in the most effective way. Some of the patterns include, chronology, description, case/effect, pro/con, problem/solution and strength/weakness. As you can see a lot of these are comparing two categories and basing your essay off of that. The next step in organizing your essay is to arrange your argument. You can use these strategies to help arrange your argument, labeling, grouping, clustering and mapping. Lastly, you will want to create a outline. Your outline will become a map to your essay and is like a skeleton to your paper. This is where you will decide where certain things will go and will become the backbone to your paper. The reason for an outline is to help keep you organized so you don't miss any key things or repeat things. Having an organized plan to write your paper will benefit you in the long run because you have actually given thought to the construction of your paper.

Chapter 19 Summary

This chapter discusses how to design your document and presentation. This chapter has six sections where it breaks down how to design specific pieces of work. These sections consist of, designing academic essays, multimodal essays, articles, web sites, oral presentations and multimedia presentations. It is important to keep in mind how to design your document because it adds a special element to your paper. When you begin to design your document you should keep in mind what your purpose is. For example, are you informing your audience or are you trying to convince them of something. This is important because you would design your paper in a different way for both of those. Another thing to keep in mind is what are the expectations of your design. For example,  you may want to talk to your instructor to see what is required of you. Another thing you should do is look at examples. This will help you find things you want to incorporate in your paper or maybe things that you do not want to do. It will also help provide you with a model you can follow. This is an important aspect to your essay because it makes your essay visually appealing.

In-Class Lab 11/13

1. What us your topic?

 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 47th 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. 

2. What do you think about your topic?

This topic is important because the schools in the United States aren't ranked highly among schools around the world. From a competitive aspect we aren't succeeding compared to other countries school systems. The one way we can look to improve our education system is the way we fund our schools. Now, this doesn't mean we throw money at the problem and hope the problem solves itself. We have to use a strategic plan to improve our schools. The strategic plan that we can use is that schools should be our top priority to fund and place the funding in the areas where it is lacking. Improving our school systems not only will benefits now, but it will also benefit us in the future.

3. What do you know about it?

In addition to the sources collected so far, I have been looking for articles dealing with what is going on at state level to improve funding to our schools and what can be done. I also looked at more peer-reviewed articles like Education Week and Education Digest. Additionally to that, I looked at scholars articles from JSTOR on the topic of funding of public education. I also found 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.

4. What is your claim?

The best way to save our school systems, is to understand where we are failing and to start from the beginning, while many believe that just throwing money at the problem will fix it they are mistaken, taking accountability and funding our schools properly is the right start onto a successful path.

5. What is your stance on the issue you are writing about?

I believe funding to our schools should be increased and funds go where they will benefit the students the most. My main points are background information on our schools(I), support for increasing funding to schools (II) and what the future of our schools could look like/will look like(III).

6. Which sources back you up?

A. (Background)

One such source is an article by Joshua Arocho, titled “Inhibiting Intrastate Inequalities: A Congressional Approach To Ensuring Equal Opportunity To Finance Public Education,” published 2014. This article brings up the unfairness of funding of schools throughout the states. Brings up how most of the funding that goes to schools deals with property tax and how that fluctuates the funding between states and so on. Again, brings up the clashing views of federal and state and how that affects schools. I will use this source by providing my audience with information about school funding and where the funds come from. This will allow me to give them an understanding of how that process works and how some changes may be beneficial. Another article that will provide my audience with background information is “No Child Left Behind--A Critical Analysis,” by Charles R. Ellis, published in 2007. It brings up the act that was emplaced when Bush was in office, which had a huge impact on the education system.  It looks into the involvement the federal government has had in regards to our school and most importantly the impact it has had on funding schools. I will be using this in my paper to provide information on what happens when an act like this is emplaced and what the outcomes are.

 B. (Support)

 One such source is Kathleen Knight Abowitz’s article “Achieving Public Schools,” published in 2011. This article helps provide the relationship between our government and our public school system. It describes how we as people are “customers” of our school systems. We pay taxes which support our schools and in return we should get what we want out of it. Also, details about how both systems need to work together to produce a working environment for students. I will use this source as a neutralizer, meaning that for public schools to work they need to be backed by the government and vice versa. A source that helps shed some light on a more positive aspect of budget cuts is an article by Alan Haskvitz, “The Recession And Education: Seize New Opportunities,” published in 2011. This source is very different from my other sources because it discusses the benefits the recession can have on education. It has a very unique perspective, since many believe that a lower budget means all negative it could actually have some slight positive benefits. This can help me show a brighter side to budget cuts, but also show that with these small things bigger things are being ignored. I will be using this in my paper to highlight some positive aspects from budget cuts and will help me provide a counter-argument.

C. (Future)

Chapter 18 Summary

Chapter 18 discusses how to properly design your paper. This chapter is broken into two sections, those sections discuss designing effectively and what elements of design you can use. When writing a paper it sis important to understand how you are going to design/structure your paper. To begin, you will want to design your paper in a effective way. You can start this by first understanding how the design process works. Next, you will want to keep in mind what your purpose is which will make this process easier. Keeping in mind of your audience is always crucial. Your audience is a key element of your paper. With designing your paper you don't want it to distract from what you are saying. Designing your paper is meant to help readers understand, locate information and ideas and understand the functions of the paper. Another important idea that goes along with designing your paper is to address genre conventions. Next, you will want to know what design elements you can use. These include fonts, spacing, alignment, color, shading, borders and illustrations These are important elements to keep in mind because with the design of a long essay like this your audience can and will get bored with words just printed on 13 pieces of paper. This is your chance to appeal to your audience visually.

Chapter 12 Summary

Chapter 12 discusses developing your argument. This chapter is broken into two sections, the first section discusses how to support your thesis statement and the second section shows you how to check the integrity of your argument. When writing a paper like this you need to be able to support what you are saying, being able to back up your thesis statement is key to success. This chapter breaks it down into 3 steps on how to support your thesis statement. The first step is to choose reasons why your thesis statement should be supported. This is your opportunity to build a strong case for your side of the argument. When doing this you want to keep in mind what your audience may or may not know about your topic already, how they respond and the counterarguments that will come up. The second step is to choose evidence that supports your reasons. A simple formula you can follow is that every reason you offer to support your thesis statement you need to back it up with evidence. Now, this evidence can come in an array of forms, from facts to personal observations. The last step is to decide how you are going to appeal to your audience. This is one of the most important steps because if you don't appeal to your audience your paper isn't doing what it was meant to do. Some ways to appeal to your audience is by appealing to authority, emotion, values, character and logic. By appealing to those examples you will be able to link with a audience member. The second part of this chapter discusses the integrity of your argument. You can do this by checking for fallacies that are used as distracters. They may distract the audience from actual information/proof. Also look for fallacies that are based on assumptions, misrepresentations and careless reasoning. These will do the opposite of what you are trying to do as a writer, it will bring your argument down.

Chapter 11 Summary

Chapter 11 discusses on how to develop your thesis statement. This will benefit you in writing this essay because your thesis statement is states your main point and the way you will be framing your argument. This is important because this is going to set the mood of your essay. This chapter is broken into two main parts, how to use your sources and your position statement and secondly drafting your thesis statement. When deciding what position you are going to take and what sources will benefit you is the toughest part about developing a thesis statement. When doing this you should keep in mind to constantly be reviewing. Review your position statement and your notes and make sure they suit where you are taking your paper. Another important idea to keep in mind is to consider your purpose and role as a writer. Lastly, you want reflect on your readers and focus on your position which you will have developed through looking at your notes and developing a position on your topic. The second part of this chapter deal with drafting your thesis statement. The purpose of your thesis statement is reflect on your position, notes and your writing situation. To begin your thesis statement you need to start by identifying important information, ideas, and arguments that are attached to your issue and particularly your side on on the issue. You can go about this by identifying key words/phrases your sources have in common to identify important ideas you want to discuss. While doing this you should keep in mind what type of document you are writing, for the essay we are writing you want to have a effective thesis statement that outlines what you will be discussing in your essay. You want your thesis to be focused rather than broad, when you have a broad statement few will argue with your statement because your idea has little info to go along with it. Developing your thesis statement is important because this is the first thing your audience will read and it will either keep their attention or loose it immediately.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

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

This article explains the relationship between our government and our public school system. It describes how we as people are “customers” of our school systems. We pay taxes which support our schools and in return we should get what we want out of it. Also, details about how both systems need to work together to produce a working environment for students. I will use this source as a neutralizer, meaning that for public schools to work they need to be backed by the government and vice versa.

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.

Discusses the unfairness of funding of schools throughout the states. Brings up how most of the funding that goes to schools deals with property tax and how that fluctuates the funding between states and so on. Again, brings up the clashing views of federal and state and how that affects schools. I will use this source by providing my audience with information about school funding and where the funds come from. This will allow me to give them an understanding of how that process works and how some changes may be beneficial.

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

With budgets being cut we can come to a safe conclusion that layoffs will occur, programs are cut, teachers lose their benefits, school days become shorter and less time is spent in the classroom. This article is explaining what cuts mean to schools and the result of them. I can use this in my paper by painting an image for my audience. Giving them an idea of what increasing cuts looks like in the classroom and what that means for schools.  (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/12/10/15econ.h28.html)

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

This article discusses some measures that California used to save jobs from being cut. It also talks about how students prefer teachers that use technology in the classroom compared to teachers that don’t. This article doesn’t provide me with adequate information that I need for my paper. It also doesn’t provide me with enough details dealing with their budget. Therefore, I will not be using this article as a source in my paper.

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.

This article targets New Jersey’s Abbott District and what occurred during our latest recession. The unique thing about the Abbott district is that it is a low income area that was receiving funding and special services before the recession hit. It goes on to compare three groups of students and the effects that occurred during the lack of funding. I can incorporate this in my paper because it gives me evidence of the effects budget cuts has on students and why this is a problem.  

Ellis, Charles R. "No Child Left Behind--A Critical Analysis." Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue 9.1/2 (2007): 221-233. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

This article discusses the No Child Left Behind Act, which has had a huge impact on our education system. It looks into the involvement the federal government has had in regards to our school and most importantly the impact it has had on funding schools. I will be using this in my paper to provide information on what happens when an act like this is emplaced and what the outcomes are.   

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.

Discusses the link between public schooling and social services. Even though this article was published in 1995 it still has an interesting perspective on the idea of bringing the two together. It also can service as a way to discuss of past reforms and why and why not they worked or didn’t work. I will use this is in my paper to provide an understanding to what reforms were taking place and how certain ones would have benefited.

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.

This article discusses sponsored schools in England. These schools are different from other schools, in other words they become “Academies” and are managed by the sponsor. From what I drew from this article is these academies are similar to our charter schools. This article also follows two schools that are using the systems to describe how they work. I will use this in my paper to use as an example of other ways to fund our schools and make the decision if this would realistically work.

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.

This article goes into detail about Charter Schools and what they are. The authors spend a good amount discussing the legal action that has been taken for Charter schools. The difference between charter schools and public schools is that charter schools don’t have to abide by the same rules that public schools do. This raises questions because they are being funded by the state as are public schools, but don’t need to meet the same requirements. I will not be using this article in my paper. It brings up a whole new topic that I’m not investigating for my paper.

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

This article discusses the benefits the recession can have on education. It has a very unique perspective, since many believe that a lower budget means all negative it could actually have some slight positive benefits. This can help me show a brighter side to budget cuts, but also show that with these small things bigger things are being ignored. I will be using this in my paper to highlight some positive aspects from budget cuts.

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.

This article brings up an interesting idea of how school performance and funding relate to one another. This article follows Kentucky and Maine to discuss the difference in test scores and the difference of funding. It brings up an important question, if schools should be rewarded for having a high performance rate or vice versa? I will using this in my paper to discuss other ways schools are funded and refer to this as an example.

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.

This article discusses if all measures have been taken before shutting down schools. It breaks down what typically goes into closing a school. It also brings up the impacts of closing schools has on the community. I will be using this in my paper to support why schools shouldn’t be closed and bring up the support from this article.

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

This article discusses the cuts many infrastructure projects were facing. Unfortunately, this article is less than a page long and doesn’t provide me with adequate information on my topic. I will not be using this source for my paper. 

O'Donovan, Eamonn. "New Money And Old Challenges In The Golden State." District Administration 49.3 (2013): 72-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

This article discusses the measure that California has taken with passing Proposition 30, which discusses how a temporary tax hike will occur to fund education. It goes into further detail on what this money will be used for to help restore in the schools. I will use this as an example of what Washington State should do and compare it to the initiative 1351 which deals with smaller class sizes in our state.  

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

This article tackles what many people believe to be the problem behind lack of funding to our schools. The author of this article brings up the fact there may be lack of communication between school management and then the labor unions. Also, with budgets being under such a close eye of the public with the recent recession also makes it a touchy situation. I will be using this in my paper to propose a solution.

REEL, Jordan, and Walter E. BLOCK. "Public Education: Who Is It For?." Scientific Journal Of Humanistic Studies 4.7 (2012): 66-72. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

This article looks at the history of our public education system and the way it was constructed. It brings up some interesting ideas of how our school systems were designed and so forth. This will be useful to help see the other ways other countries design their schools and find a difference that may be \linked to funding. I will be using this in my paper to provide a background of our education and how that is useful to us.

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.

Alabama is the prime example in this article. This article brings up the interesting topic of students paying for extracurricular activities, which here in Washington students pay to participate in sports and so on. This article also gives an overview of public education law and the conditions of the schools/school systems. I will be using this in my paper to help show that this “Pay to Play” idea hasn’t been around for long and what the benefits of it are.

 

 

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.

This article discusses a fight in Missouri that occurred over funding of public education. The case was Committee for Educational Equality vs. State of Missouri, where the apparent constitution of Missouri would provide free education to students under the age of 21. This article goes into further detail in how the funding of public education was challenged and how it was seen an invalid. I will be using this in my paper to help shed some light on how this could have been done more realistically and what we could learn from this example in our education system.

Rust, Jennifer Reboul. "Investing In Integration: A Case For "Promoting Diversity" In Federal Education Funding Priorities." Loyola Law Review 59.3 (2013): 623-671. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

This article brings up another case that deals with funding of public education in Seattle. This article discusses federal funding and how one of the requirements to receive federal funding is school diversity. This is one of sixteen priorities for schools to receive federal funding.  Many see this as a problem because they see it as racial discrimination and judgment of their socioeconomic standing. I will be using this in my paper to provide understanding to what federal funding is and how the results played out in Seattle.

"School Financing 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.

Similar to the article by Rowe, this article also deals with a case of the state Ohio vs. DeRolph (funding schools), which was a 13-year battle brought up because many believed that Ohio’s way of funding the schools was unconstitutional by the Thorough and Efficient Clause. I will be using this in my paper to help me understand more of the laws dealing with funding our public education and also as an example of what we can do.