Toward national funding reform

Almost every education policy debate is in part a proxy for something else, writes Conor Williams on the New America Ed Central website. Regardless of surface appearance, school funding arguments are often implicitly about deeper theories of justice and core elements of our social contract (both articulated and unarticulated). If we believe that all students should be treated equally in a public education system, presumably we should commit equal resources to each student, regardless of background. If we believe that some students may, through no fault of their own, face crippling educational challenges because of their families' limited resources, presumably we should compensate with additional public funds that establish a baseline of equitable educational opportunity. Many politicians and education officials seem to accept the latter idea, yet funding formulas don't always fulfill that promise. There are many different ways to frame school funding and to slice up numbers, and people can usually reformulate data to confirm whatever argument they're making. So while states should definitely establish a just funding baseline for students in high-poverty schools, nearly every state has funding-formula problems that seem extraordinarily tough to reform. Williams suggests these are educational equity problems we should look to the federal government to address.More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

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