For some students, their school system provides an excess of resources throughout the building and can afford to provide students with the necessary supplies needed to receive a quality education. For others, some school districts struggle to provide even the most essential resources that are needed to create an adequate learning environment. Hundreds of school districts throughout the United States are underfunded and seemingly forgotten by the national government. Schools cannot provide laptops, nutritious food, and fair wages for teachers. All of these factors lead to a suboptimal learning environment and have time and time again scored lower on standardized tests than schools that can afford a quality education. As this problem worsens, the difference between a student becoming a doctor or high school dropout may simply be decided by where you were born. Click the link below to see what districts are underfunded and desperately need a higher budget.
https://tcf.org/app/themes/tcf/assets/embeds/gapmap/1-year.html
Increasingly studies have shown that districts with higher levels of income receive more funding, and that minority districts receive even less than white districts. You would expect funding to be higher in these districts as they need the supplies more than wealthier school systems. In the United States K-12 public schools are underfunded by nearly 150 billion annually, and rob nearly 30 million students of a quality education according to The Century Foundation. So how does this lack of funding begin and continue to plague the public school system?
Though issues have been present since the public school system was created, the problem grew after the 2008 Recession. Cuts in funding for public education began as a way to bolster the economy in other sectors. You would expect this funding to be restored when he economy rebounded but in the years since funding has continued to decrease.
In the decade since the recession only a handful of states have restored the funding to pre-2008 numbers. Largely schools depend on state funding, so the quality of an education is largely determined by the state you’re born in. Receiving an education in Mississippi is considerably worse than an education in Maine.
Unless funding is directed back into education, these problems will only continue to worsen. School funding ensures that students can not only afford school supplies but also eat nutritious lunches, and have adequate guidance through counselors and strong role models. For many children schools are an escape from the reality of a struggling home life so it’s the government and our responsibility to provide a safe and effective system of education.
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First of all, this is a fascinating topic for a Civic Issues blog, and one that is often overlooked. My mom is a teacher at an elementary school, and it often feels that no one truly understands the disparities unless they have an educator in their family — definitely a relief to see more people talking about it and posting about it! Very strong start, but I suggest maybe adding more pictures or configuring your page a bit differently so the text isn’t so blocky — it’ll become even more appealing to look at and read. Good work!
I think inequality within the American educational system is a really strong topic for a civic issues blog, because it is something we all have experience with. Like you stated, there are major disparities between the resources, funding, and teachers between public schools in different districts. Additionally and unfortunately, the schools who require more funding to improve the education system usually are the last ones to receive it because their district is in a lower average tax bracket. This was a problem in my hometown, as the public schools near me did not have great funding. Because of this, many students went to private school, which is what I did. But not everyone has the privilege of being able to attend a private school, so this problem is critical to solve. I am excited to see where you go with this blog and learn more!
The lack of funding of public schools has been a relatively well known issue for a while now. I would say that most people agree that it is a problem. But fixing this nuanced problem proves extremely difficult. There are so many reasons why a school could be underfunded. Wealthier people tend to succeed academically due to having more opportunity and resources for their education, yet in addition to these benefits, they tend to have better-funded schools. This is partly due to the higher taxes that these people often pay. In the midwest where people pay significantly less taxes than in the northeast, it makes sense that there is less money to go into school systems–there is less money to go around period. And people already living in poverty are not going to want to move to places with higher costs of living simply for the educational benefits. Ultimately, the concern for people with financial struggles is to keep a roof over their head and to be able to afford food. Unfortunately, before other issues–such as food insecurity, inaccessible healthcare, etc– are addressed, I think it will be extremely difficult to increase funding for schools in need.
I definitely agree with you. Schools should be funded properly and be a safe-haven for all children, but it does feel like those priorities have shifted greatly. I know my school had to make some quick changes for COVID-19 like suddenly supplying every student with individual chromebooks. Luckily, I come from an area where they could afford that but many other schools took huge hits. I would love to see more schools get the funding they deserve and for teachers to be payed more fair wages for the work they are doing.