SCHOOL FUNDING: WICKED PROBLEM
Some believe that school funding is a wicked problem. In actuality it’s the creators of the problem who are wicked. Per Marguerite Roza, school finance is a wicked problem because it has various sources of funding. She goes on to say that because each funding source has varied stipulations and formulas for distribution of funds it makes the issue of school funding worse. Based on the information provided, states should do a better job of getting and giving school finance information. The consensus seems to be that there should be more school finance analytics, a more thorough breakdown of where the money goes and specifics in terms of how much does it cost per student for a core subject. She discusses district …show more content…
The data is there already, districts can attain how much they’re spending per student per school and how much on each subject per student. In this day and age, it is hard to believe that data couldn’t be easily retrieved by any operating school or school district. There are finance programs that are in existence that can give virtually any breakout of allocation or spending a school or district could need or want. In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics released Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems. They discussed the need for greater detail in financial reporting and concept cost for reporting by school. There is also information in regards to analysis of program cost reporting, structure, and the actual use of cost reporting software with the existing data systems (Allison, Honegger, Johnson & Hoffman, 2009). It is apparent that the limits the video identifies as factors that lead to the wicked problem of school finance, have long been identified and discussed; but still have yet to be …show more content…
There were historical experiences, beliefs about causes of poverty, and flawed studies which give inaccurate information. The beliefs about the cause of poverty include individualism, essentialism, and the culture poverty thesis. It is difficult to see the validity in these excuses. The closest to the truth would be the historic viewpoint. It would stand to reason that all inequality issues of this county stem from its history. The article mentions that by the end of the 19th century the tradition of funding schools through local property taxes was widespread (Biddle & Berliner, 2002). There is no mention of the fact that Jim Crow Laws, which promoted racial segregation and inequality, also begin toward the end of the 19th century…1880 through and beyond the mid 1900’s to be exact. Granted, these laws were primarily in southern and bordering states, but that is where the majority of this country’s minority population was. If the goal was to keep minorities at a disadvantage then local property taxes were perfect, because minorities would never generate the funds that whites did because of the wealth gap from its inception. Unfortunately, this is country has the history of institutional and systemic racism combined with classism embedded in its framework. There is no reason to continue to search and analyze to find causes and reasons for
Some believe that school funding is a wicked problem. In actuality it’s the creators of the problem who are wicked. Per Marguerite Roza, school finance is a wicked problem because it has various sources of funding. She goes on to say that because each funding source has varied stipulations and formulas for distribution of funds it makes the issue of school funding worse. Based on the information provided, states should do a better job of getting and giving school finance information. The consensus seems to be that there should be more school finance analytics, a more thorough breakdown of where the money goes and specifics in terms of how much does it cost per student for a core subject. She discusses district …show more content…
The data is there already, districts can attain how much they’re spending per student per school and how much on each subject per student. In this day and age, it is hard to believe that data couldn’t be easily retrieved by any operating school or school district. There are finance programs that are in existence that can give virtually any breakout of allocation or spending a school or district could need or want. In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics released Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems. They discussed the need for greater detail in financial reporting and concept cost for reporting by school. There is also information in regards to analysis of program cost reporting, structure, and the actual use of cost reporting software with the existing data systems (Allison, Honegger, Johnson & Hoffman, 2009). It is apparent that the limits the video identifies as factors that lead to the wicked problem of school finance, have long been identified and discussed; but still have yet to be …show more content…
There were historical experiences, beliefs about causes of poverty, and flawed studies which give inaccurate information. The beliefs about the cause of poverty include individualism, essentialism, and the culture poverty thesis. It is difficult to see the validity in these excuses. The closest to the truth would be the historic viewpoint. It would stand to reason that all inequality issues of this county stem from its history. The article mentions that by the end of the 19th century the tradition of funding schools through local property taxes was widespread (Biddle & Berliner, 2002). There is no mention of the fact that Jim Crow Laws, which promoted racial segregation and inequality, also begin toward the end of the 19th century…1880 through and beyond the mid 1900’s to be exact. Granted, these laws were primarily in southern and bordering states, but that is where the majority of this country’s minority population was. If the goal was to keep minorities at a disadvantage then local property taxes were perfect, because minorities would never generate the funds that whites did because of the wealth gap from its inception. Unfortunately, this is country has the history of institutional and systemic racism combined with classism embedded in its framework. There is no reason to continue to search and analyze to find causes and reasons for