Improving School Finance Formulas - Essay Example

Education is the cornerstone which creates growth for a society over time. It is the only inheritance of any real value a person can provide his children. All strong economies in the world have the same common dominator of having a strong educational system. Building and more importantly sustaining a strong educational system does take large amounts of economic resources. Our children deserve the best education our society can provide for them. The future of any nation is in their hands. All children are entitled to a quality education. “The notion that all citizens are entitled to a quality free public education to gain sufficient knowledge to govern themselves and to contribute to a productive economy is a foundation principle of our democracy” (Lefkowits, 2004). Economic forces within the United States have created a worrisome trend in which it appears not all children from different parts of the country are getting the opportunity to have top of line education from the nation’s public school system. Inequalities in the type of education children are receiving around the country exist. The main contributor to the phenomena is the way the school finance formulas are set up. This essay will discuss and analyze the inequality in our school system created by financing formula and the impact the system and adjustments to the system have on the taxpayers in the United States of America. The different schools districts get funded primarily based on formulas which allocate a percentage of local district property taxes and some state and federal funding. If the majority of the funds come from property taxes which are higher for citizens who live in affluent communities because the value of the homes is higher, consequently the system is creating a de facto disadvantage for poor communities. The formula itself is set up to bring more money in the schools for the children of higher income families. The state of Texas attempted to in 1993 to resolve this problem. They created a system called “Robin Hood” to create equalization among school funding. “Robin Hood” mandated there could only be a $500 difference between school district spending per child, which would be achieved by redistribution of property taxes between districts (Harvard Political Review, 2007). The plan backfired because it caused property value to go down in wealthy areas. Homes of lesser values translate in lower property taxes collections for the government. The school system lost approximately $81 million in overall funding because of “Robin Hood”. Texas cancelled “Robin Hood” in 2004. The impact to the taxpayers of the state of Texas was devastating. Many hard working people loss equity value in their homes and all Texans suffered because their children lost economic resource as a result of the initiative. Also next time a legislator creates a proposal for equality in school system in this state a lot of voters are not going to be so confident about the potential results after the “Robin Hood” fiasco. The overall inequalities across school systems have lowered over the years. In the 1970’s inequality was worse than it is now because the financing of some schools systems was based solely on property taxes. In the state of California this practice was imminent. The people place a lawsuit against the state in 1976 which they won. In his verdict the judge determined that disparity in available resources per student was deemed inequitable, thus unconstitutional (Lefkowits, 2004). In the years that followed there were other lawsuits that have brought more balance among districts because of the legal system recognizing the flaw in the school financing formulas. Currently schools receive their funding from three sources which are property taxes, state funding and federal funding. On the average and taking into consideration all 50 states the contribution of each of the sources amounts to the following allocation: Local government (property taxes) - 50% State funds - 44% Federal funds - 6% (Financing America’s public schools). In order to better understand both sides of the coin parents need to meet with school representatives to discuss the issues in open forums. Since ultimately the parents, taxpayers, are funding the school system and their children are the beneficiaries of the school efforts they need to have more influence in how the money is invested. The taxpayers need to express how they think money should be allocated. In school representatives have to be prepared to provide exact information on how the school is spending the money and what are their recommendation to improve it and the cost of realizing the improvements. This is the best way for the taxpayers to understand the system. The school needs to collect information on the willingness of the taxpayers of spending more on the school system. The information needs to be delivered to the politicians and legislators who ultimately make the decisions for the community. There are four basic school finance formulas utilized in the United States. These formulas are: 1. Foundation / base formula - The formula assigns a base-funding per pupil and is multiplied by a weigh for each pupil. Base amounts are determined based on history and politics. The system is utilized in 25 states and Columbia. 2. Modified foundation / base formula – It is similar to the foundation / base formula, but the base amounts varies from district to district. The system is utilized in 12 states. 3. Teacher allocation - the system allocates funding for education staff along with other overhead costs to districts based on the total student enrollment. The system is utilized in seven states. 4. Dollar funding per student - The system allocates funding based on an exact dollar amount per student. The system is utilized in four states. (The Finance Project, 2006). There are four other states which utilized their own independent systems. The four states with individual finance formulas are Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Hawaii (The Finance Project, 2006). Any attempt to build a finance formula to better distribute money between the school districts can be realized utilizing certain basic concepts. A researcher or mathematician working on a finance formula can benefit by doing the following things: A base allocation for the “norm” student Adjustments for grade level differences among students Realize enhancements for curriculum purposes Adjustments for the different needs of students Adjustments for differences in the needs of schools (CPRE, 2007). It is never easy to find optimal solutions for problems such as equity among school funding, but it is necessary to continue to look for improvements so that all our children can obtain the education they need and deserve. References CPRE (2007). Formula Funding of Schools. University of Wisconsin Madison. Retrieved June 11, 2007 from http://www.wcer.wisc.edu Financing America’s Public Schools. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from http://www.nga.org Harvard Political Review (2007). Crunching Numbers. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from http://www.hprsite.squarespace.com Lefkowits, L. (2004). School Finance: From Equity to Adequacy. 1-3. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from http://www.mcrel.org The Finance Project (2006). Afterschool and State Education Finance Formulas. 5-6. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from http://www.financeproject.org Read More