In the U.S. school funding comes from a combination of three main sources. This balance varies from state to state, but on average it rounds to about 10% federal money, 45% from the state, and 45% local property taxes. The leading cause for our wide variation of poor and well education across school districts is our latter contributor, property taxes. Property values vary tremendously from neighborhood to neighborhood, district to district; and with them, tax revenues range far and wide just as well. …
Unfair Funding - Part 2
Unfair Funding - Part 3
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. …