The problem is clearly staring us all in the eye, but lawmakers refuse to see education as an importance that requires equal protections and funding. In 1973, San Antonio Independent School District vs. Rodriguez made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The plaintiff, Demetrio P. Rodriguez, argued that any school funding system that depends on local property tax revenue is fundamentally unfair to poorer districts. Rodriguez’s sons attended an elementary school where the third floor had been condemned. It lacked books and many of the teachers weren’t certified.

In a split decision, 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled against Rodriguez, saying there is no right to equal funding in education under the United States Constitution.

Income inequality in the U.S. is rising, and, thus, so has the achievement gap between children in high and low-income families. Sean Reardon, a professor with Stanford University, published an article in 2012 estimating that income achievement gaps among children born in 2001 are roughly 40% larger than those born twenty-five years earlier, as depicted by the graph below.

Reardon mentions, “We risk producing an even more unequal and economically polarized society.” I agree, yet I would go a step further to say that we risk polarizing our community in more ways than just economics; but in terms of relations, social context, and cooperation with working towards goals that benefit the entire country. To have cooperation, all members of society must be on the same page, and this is quite difficult when the better half of society can’t well read it.