Reflection Paper Education - Essay Example

Reflection Paper Education Financial Crisis of Schools in the District of Philadelphia Caskey and Kuperberg’s article in the journal EducationNext explains the reason for the financial crisis in School in the district of Philadelphia. The report claims that every year, schools in the district of Philadelphia experience a budget crisis for the succeeding year. In 2014, for the first time, the School Reform Commission declined to pass a budget with the argument that the fiscal allocation was insufficient to run the school.

This action violated the city charter. In the previous year, an announcement had been made by the district superintendent of the possibility of failure of schools to open on time. The director claimed that severe cuts in the budget had resulted to understaffing. A number of variables exist in the issues discussed in the article. Politics factor in the report as being a significant variable for the crisis of 2012. The report claims that the 2012 crisis resulted due to increased political pressures on the district to use revenues that are available in a particular year.

In 2010, developments in politics led to the election of Tom Corbett as governor. Corbett had to cut the state’s spending to balance the budget. The result was a seven percent reduction in education subsidy and other massive cuts on grants offered by the state for education (Caskey et al.). The economic variable also features in the article. The article opines that enrollment in public schools gradually declined after the beginning of inflation. The laws of the State need all schools to have equal distribution due to an increasing number of students attending Charter School.

Currently, Charter Schools educate thirty percent of the district’s public school students (Caskey et al.). The development of charter school contributes to financial crisis faced by the schools in the area. These variables affect the way the article reports the financial woes. The author gives much attention to political developments in the district’s State, the economic factors of U.S. and Chatter School enrollment. The report has an outstanding agenda that is to bring to light the fiscal situation of the district of Philadelphia.

It points out that the district has entered into a dangerous cycle that encourages more students to relocate to Charter School. This undertaking further weakens the financing of the schools in the area and encourages students’ exit. The report has similarities with Schools presented by Kozol in Savage Inequalities. Just like in the report, Kozol identifies small funding of schools as the primary reason for low teacher’s salaries. He further discusses the underfunding of schools in low-income areas that is in line with the claims of the report.

Finally, the article does not talk about racial segregation hence lacks anything that can support Kozol’s assertion of racial discrimination in schools today. The report’s discussion on education raises a number of issues. The report addresses the issue of charter schools. The matter contributes to financial woes faced by District of Philadelphia schools. Charter schools contribute to decreasing financial funding since most parent’s in the district remove their children from traditional schools and enroll them in this Charter Schools.

The issue of Charter Schools shows the extent of bureaucratization of schools in the United States and its impact on the traditional schools.Work CitedCaskey, J and Mark Kuperberg. “The Philadelphia School District’s Ongoing Financial Crisis.” EducationNext 14.4 (2014). Retrieved on 22nd April 2015 from http://educationnext.org/philadelphia-school-districts-ongoing-financial-crisis/