Rights and lefts a new thread

[ballen0351]

But they are vastly outnumbered by the blind folded and piss-poor schools that make your eyes bleed.
And frankly, you, like most everybody else, falls for the secondary education thing.
The primary education, Elementary schools to High School, that's where it's sadly lacking.

Thats not just in the south there are so many bad schools everywhere in this country.

 

[Steve]

Local control has many things to recommend it, to be sure. However, there is one big glaring downside to local control/local funding: how well funded most schools are is entirely a function of local property values. In many cases I am aware of, maybe even most, local schools are funded by local property taxes, and in some cases, locally voted on bond measures.

The implications are obvious. We say we want to give everyone a chance to get a decent education and work their way out of poverty, but schools in poor districts will generally be deficient in funding.

Agreed, but as I said, public schools are funded in part by every level of government from federal all the way down to local. The simple point being that, in response to the allegation that local control and funding is better because local people know best what their kids mean, funding and control is not just federal. There are guidelines, but there is also much latitude from school district to school district to teach kids how they see best to do so.

Now, I'm not at all confident that our local school board and superintendent are effective stewards of these funds, but overall, I think my kids are getting a decent public education. My problem is that this is at great expense, much of it (IMO) a waste of money designed more to bring accolades to the school district than to actually improve the education of the kids.

We have some disparity among school districts even within a relatively close area depending upon which voting block approves levies and which don't, and the competence and diligence of the local school boards.

Governer Gregoire recently announced that she intends to create a Washington State Dept of Education and eliminate the local school superintendents, and in general, this would be more efficient. Would it be better? Only if the Dept of Education is adequately funded and has sufficient, competent staff to do the job. Frankly, though, it pisses me off even to think about our local school superintendent. The guy makes over $200k per year, the school admin staff averages over $100k, and our teachers are among the lowest paid in the state.

Anyway, I'm home with a sick baby today, and this subject is irritating me. I'll just let it go before I go completely off topic on a senseless rant.

 

[Blade96]

I hope your baby gets all better!

 

[5-0 Kenpo]

Local control has many things to recommend it, to be sure. However, there is one big glaring downside to local control/local funding: how well funded most schools are is entirely a function of local property values. In many cases I am aware of, maybe even most, local schools are funded by local property taxes, and in some cases, locally voted on bond measures.

The implications are obvious. We say we want to give everyone a chance to get a decent education and work their way out of poverty, but schools in poor districts will generally be deficient in funding.

That's not exactly how it works though. I did a shotgun google search regarding how different States fund their school districts. It showed that most school districts receive their funding from a states general fund. Now, most, though not all, of that funding is based in large part on property tax revenue. But as an example for California, the Los Angeles Unified School District could receive funding from property values in Los Angeles as well as Beverly Hills.

I guess it depends on how you define local. If you mean at the district level, then this position has some validation. If you are referring to State level, then it loses some of its impact. Of course, you could always argue poor States versus prosperous States.

But then, another question to ask is what are the appropriate funding levels for a school district.