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.