Public Education Funding

By Ted Lewis and David Marino

By Ted Lewis and David Marino

Overview of Education Funding

• Public schools funded by local property taxes• Managed at the district level

Arguments For Equitable Funding

• Lower income school districts would receive more money (Funding gap 2005)

• True equity of opportunity• The quality of the average education would

increase

Arguments against Equitable Funding

• Taxes paid should go to the districts those people live in

• If money is equally distributed, the highest quality schools would lose quality

No Child Left Behind

• Passed in 2001• Sets academic standards for schools,

measured by standardized tests • Incentives for school that meet requirements• Schools required to provide for students when

standards not met

Pros/Cons of NCLB

Pros• Encourages schools to

improve and perform well• Sets national standards for

educational quality• Requires lagging schools to

reach standards

cons• Less funding for struggling

schools• Does not provide funding to

carry out the bills provisions• Federal intrusion into a

“state issue”

Race to the Top

• Part of American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009

• Sets criteria to measure improvement in education quality• Offers additional funding to states that can display a significant improvement

Pros/cons of Race to the Top

Pros• Sets comprehensive list of

requirements for improvement

• Sets incentives for improvement

• Cannot lose funding if standards are not met

Cons• Not all states are eligible for

the extra funding (opt-in)• Does not focus on

improving low achieving schools

• Does not require schools to increase performance

Interest Groups

• KNEA (Kansas National Education Association)• Increased investment in public education• Adequate funding for all public schools

Interest Groups

• The Heritage Foundation• Returning education authority to the states• Belief that steps to equity of education will

lead to mediocre education

Statistics

• The U.S. spent $562.3 billion in the 2006-2007 school year. (NECS)

• In the 2006-07 school year, the government spent $10,041 per student on average (NECS)

Statistics

In the long term, Reading and Mathematics scores have increased over the past 30 years.

Recent Developments

• The start of the Race to the Top Program (July 24, 2009)

• Phase 2 decisions announced on August 24, 2010

Republican Party Positions

• High Standards• Giving Parents the option to choose schools

Democratic Party Positions

• Democrats cite Race to the Top as their position on education

Green Party Opinion

• The Green Party supports choice in the type of education

• Green Party supports an equitable distribution of state and national funding

Works Cited• Works Cited• "Current Political Issues | RNC: Republican National Committee | GOP." RNC: Republican National Committee | RNC: Republican National Committee

| GOP. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.gop.com/index.php/issues/issues/>.• "DPI Seeks Changes to Public School Funding - JSOnline." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Breaking News, Sports, Business, Watchdog Journalism,

Multimedia in Wisconsin. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/108059204.html>.• "Education | The Heritage Foundation." Conservative Policy Research and Analysis | The Heritage Foundation. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.heritage.org/Issues/Education>.• "Education Reform | The Heritage Foundation." Conservative Policy Research and Analysis | The Heritage Foundation. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/08/education-reform>.• "Full Rank." Philly Mag. Philadelphia Magazine. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.phillymag.com/files/images/Full_ranking.pdf>.• "Green Party on Education." OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/green_party_education.htm>.• "Inequality in Funding of Public Education Raises Justice Issues: Quality Often Depends on Where Students Live - Cover Story - Page 2 | National

Catholic Reporter." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n26_v33/ai_19389741/pg_2/?tag=content;col1>.

• "Obama Offers 'Race to the Top' Contest for Schools | World News | Guardian.co.uk." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8625198?FORM=ZZNR7>.

• "School Funding Central Menu." KNEA Tools. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.knea.org/funding/archive.html>.• Subject, By. "Archived: Executive Summary of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." U.S. Department of Education. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

<http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html>.• Subject, By. "The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)." U.S. Department of Education. Web. 17 Nov.

2010. <http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html>.• United States. US Department of Education. Www2,ed,gov. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-

summary.pdf>.• "What We Stand For: Education." Democrats.org. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.democrats.org/issues/education>.• "The Funding Gap 2005." The Education Trust, 2005. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <"The Funding Gap 2005." The Education Trust, 2005. Web. 18 Nov. 2010.>.