YOUNG BLACK LIVES MATTER - Unequal School Funding in the United States

 It would surprise most U.S. citizens to learn that disparities such as these are simply not tolerated in other developed countries, where public schools normally receive equal funding in rich and poor communities alike on the basis of the number of students enrolled...

 To my knowledge, the U.S. is the only nation to fund elementary and secondary education based on local wealth.

Other developed countries either equalize funding or provide extra funding for individuals or groups felt to need it.

 

In the Netherlands, for example, national funding is provided to all schools based on the number of pupils enrolled, but...

for every guilder allocated to a middle-class Dutch child,

1.25 guilders are allocated for a lower-class child and

1.9 guilders for a minority child,

exactly the opposite of the situation in the U.S., where lower-class and minority children typically receive less than middle-class white children....

Funding differences in the United States generate huge disparities in the quality of school buildings, facilities, curri-culum, equipment for instruction, teacher experience and qualifications, class sizes, presence of auxiliary professionals, and other resources....

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I THINK THIS NEEDS A POLITICIAN TO SPEARHEAD IT, AND THAT PROBABLY MEANS WE NEED A BLACK LIVES MATTER TYPE SPOTLIGHT ON IT.

POOR OF EVERY SHADE WOULD BENEFIT.

BUT HOW DO YOU SPOTLIGHT SOMETHING REGULARLY WHEN PEOPLE HAVE ACCEPTED POOR SCHOOLS IN POOR NEIGHBORHOODS AS NORMAL?

WHO DO YOU EXPOSE AS BEING AT FAULT FOR THIS? WITH THE BLACK, UNARMED, DEAD BY POLICE YOU KNOW THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT. WHO DO YOU SPOTLIGHT WHEN IT COMES TO FUNDING SCHOOLS SO UNFAIRLY?
 
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As a rule, U.S. citizens say they are committed to the welfare of children, the ideal of equal opportunity, and the notion that public education can and should provide a level playing field for all students.

Given these stated values, why are they willing to tolerate unequal funding for public schools?

Perhaps the simplest answer to this question is that some people in the United States are unaware of the problem or think that inequities in school funding are small and don't matter. Many people, however, areaware that public schools are not equally supported but are willing to tolerate this form of inequity. Three reasons may lie behind this odd stance.




READ MORE:  

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may02/vol59/num08/Unequal-School-Funding-in-the-United-States.aspx