School Funding Formulas

My biggest concern is how much of the funding for public schools comes from property taxes, and state and local sources. This seems to an unfair burden on communities where poverty is concentrated.

I think the issue of public education should be more nationalized, and an effort should be made to show how the lack of educational opportunities for some parts of the population affects us as a nation. I think there should be some form of vertical equity applied, and I do not feel that it should be seen as being unequal to allocate more resources to where it is most needed. Nobody is stressing that point about children born (or adopted) into wealthy families with a ton of resources.

I would not be opposed to funding public schools through any certain means, but I would change how those funds are distributed. I think that in terms of taxation, collecting from sales tax would be the most fair to the taxpayer; but it monies are collected through property and income taxes, it should not only go to the schools within that region, but be distributed in terms of need until a level of parity is reached in all public learning institutions in America. Fundraising should be encouraged, but I feel that schools in lower income areas should look more into raising funds from sources outside of their communities where there is more disposable income. Grants from foundations should be allowed, but distributed more evenly, or even favor schools with higher needs. I also think that businesses and corporations should share more of the responsibility of funding schools, especially since they are often the beneficiaries of strong educational systems by having a highly educated talent pool to hire employees from.

I also believe that progress and achievement levels should factor into how much a school is funded. The most effective schools should receive all the funding they require to operate, and those underperforming should be subject to being completely restructured or closed altogether. I know this would raise concerns as to what would be considered satisfactory levels of achievement and progress; I feel this issue should be addressed through national discourse and some form of a voting process to determine acceptable standards.

I believe that my plan is generally equitable in a relative sense; children with less access to a quality education should be given the opportunity to gain access to one, and learning institutions with less resources should be allotted more funding to acquire more. My primary concern is children - all children - and all should have the same opportunities to learn. A child's access to a quality education and subsequent future should not be determined by the economic situation they were born into.