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)
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