Education Funding In America

[bs69]

I am curious how the public schools are funded in different areas of the country. In my local area, levies have to be passed by the voters to raise taxes (usually property taxes) to pay for the schools. A smaller portion (based on the affluence of the area) is funded by the state. Currently the local school district (which my children attend), has not been able to pass an increase since 2002. There are a lot of foreclosures and people just hanging on to their homes, so it is hard to blame them for voting down the funding, but the children are being hurt. Busing has been cut, you have to pay to play sports, music and gym classes have been eliminated and we are going under state control starting next school year. I am thinking there has to be another way. How is it done in your area?

[FunkyBass13]

Works very similar in Western Washington, although I have not heard that the kids have to pay toplay sports, but all other activities seem to have been hit by similar circumstances as your's. Every year there is a new levy to vote on and once one does get passed in a certain district, its teachers tend to go on strike the folowwing year. So it is a vicious circle all the way around. The school disctrics around here actually make the kids bring in paper to make copies. between my three kids, I probably send around 6 reems of paper to school per year.

[bs69]

Works very similar in Western Washington, although I have not heard that the kids have to pay toplay sports, but all other activities seem to have been hit by similar circumstances as your's. Every year there is a new levy to vote on and once one does get passed in a certain district, its teachers tend to go on strike the folowwing year. So it is a vicious circle all the way around. The school disctrics around here actually make the kids bring in paper to make copies. between my three kids, I probably send around 6 reems of paper to school per year.

I hear you! The amount of paper that comes home in the form of completed work from school is amazing. Half of our recycle bin is school papers every week. I think the gap between public and private schools is going to grow larger and larger in the coming years. Too much of the funding for the public schools goes into trying to get kids to catch up to their classmates, while gifted programs are being cut (that is happening in our district). There are mandates in place to help those who struggle, so in a budget crunch the accelerated programs go down. Parents of those students will be forced to send their kids to private school and the gap will get wider.