Free, accessible, unsegregated, and unequal

Free, accessible, and unsegregated public education in the United States has only existed since 1965 and been predicated on the ESEA's three precedents: the promise to educate all children; the fluctuating nature of school funding; and the mandating of standardized tests, writes Lawrence Baines in Teachers College Record. Yet the federal government has never fully funded public education: It has always paid for only a fraction of special education costs -- 17 percent in 2013 -- and contributes little toward educating English Language Learners. Funds for public schools mostly come from state and local sources, with taxes on property the largest single source of revenue, and these swing wildly, especially during economic downturns. School budgeting has become short-term, tenuous, and contingent, and is widely divergent both within and across states: For instance, Arizona spent less per pupil ($6,683) in 2012 than it did in 1989, adjusting for inflation; Massachusetts spent $15,746 per pupil. This has clear effect. In recent NAEP tests of reading, Massachusetts students ranked first in the United States, Arizona students 46th. School boundary lines may seem random, but differences in quality-of-life variables -- property tax rate, crime rate, and average SAT score -- are substantial. So American public education, hewing to 1965's precedents, has created a system of schooling that favors the rich and penalizes the poor. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.