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.
