Equalizing School Funding

Public Education across the United States has been under attack for several years. Parents want school districts, administrators and teachers to be accountable for their children’s education; however, they do not want to finance their schools. School districts are forced to work with the income they have. This income varies from district to district and state to state. Affluent districts across the United States have larger budgets than poor districts causing great inequalities in students’ education. “Many children of middle and upper class neighborhoods are given the material and intellectual resources that will allow them to obtain high social status, solid employment, and wealth; many other children are denied this privilege because …show more content…
States have different formulas to fund schools. School funding uses a combination of three sources. The balance varies but on average 45 percent comes from local money, 45 percent comes from the state and 10 percent federal (Turner 7). Each school district’s income is different and can vary from year to year because the majority of school districts rely heavily on local taxes. The differences in district revenue can be huge between wealthy suburban communities and rural or inner city communities because of the differences of income in their …show more content…
Equalizing school funding is the first step in assuring this can happen. School children across the United States will have the same amount of money spent per pupil. The districts will have the same amount of money to spend on supplies, computers and other educational learning tools necessary for advancement. Balancing finances can also benefit parents and their complaints regarding accountability and teachers, administrators and school districts. If every district is funded equally, there should not be any excuse by teachers or administrators that they do not have the necessary resources that they need to educate the students. It can also help balance teacher and administrative pay. Teachers and administrators doing the same job, whether it is in wealthy affluent districts or urban districts should be making very similar if not equal pay. “Rural districts have difficulty recruiting and retaining effective teachers” (Ikpa) because of the inequities in pay. If districts have the same amount of money to spend per pupil, they will also have the same amount to spend on salaries and benefits. This will force salaries to be more balanced than they are