No more D's. Try harder you slackers!

[Strikerfox]

Sorry, but I'm calling BS on this one.

Where we live it's a consolodated school district. The entire county is one giant school district. Rich areas and poor areas get "equal access" to the funding pool. IOW - being in the poor part of town doesn't mean you get proportionatly less money. In some cases just the opposite - some schools in poor areas get MORE money per student than middle or affluent areas.

Oddly enough, it's still the affluent areas that have the better students.


In Cinn, the school districts are NOT consolodated. Each little burg has their own. When deciding where to live we looked at the data. There were areas that were getting better scores, more students to college, etc BUT spending less per student than other, lower performing districts.



I don't buy that it's all about the tax base and the money in the system. I DO think that affluent parents are more involved, better educated themselves and have higher educational expectations of their children. I think that "attitude" drives performance in "rich" areas more than money alone.

Local school districts are administered by local school boards, which operate public primary and secondary schools within their boundaries. Since public schools are funded by taxpayers, members of school boards are democratically elected to represent the public's interest. The authority of school boards is limited to taxpayer-funded schools. Therefore, schools which receive no taxpayer funding, including privately-funded, parochial (religiously-affiliated) and home schools are not required to abide by school-board policies. (Homeschooling laws vary from state to state.)

Public schools are provided mainly by local governments. Curricula, funding, teaching, and other policies are set through locally elected school boards by jurisdiction over school districts. The school districts are special-purpose districts authorized by provisions of state law. Generally, state governments can and do set minimum standards relating to almost all activities of primary and secondary schools, as well as funding and authorization to enact local school taxes to support the schools—primarily through real property taxes. The federal government funds aid to states and school districts that meet minimum federal standards.

State school - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Affluent families do have the ability to provide more resources for their children including tutoring, extra curricular activities, and a household adequate from growing up (though that can be debatable.)

Having attended both public school (different ones) during elementary school and private schools (6th grade to 12th grade and attended a private college) Ive seen the discrepancies myself.

Having lived in a few cities in the east coast, as well as college towns, I will say that the value of a neighborhood(s) will have an impact to the public schools that reside in the area. For the most part, in metropolitan cities on the east coast, such as New York City, you will find public schools that are over crowded, underfunded and inadequately staffed. Having grown up in a "good neighborhood" I can say that the public school near my house offered a better education than the one two neighboorhoods over. That being said, my neighborhood was primarily homeowners of white descent, the other neighborhood was predominantly filled with minorities who rented apartments.

I know of many instances where people will fake their mailing address, such as by saying they live in different house where a friend resides, to qualify their child to go to the 'better' school.

Schools near projects will have some of the worst schools, and worst environments to give a child an education. These schools are overcrowded, lack new books, or even enough books for the students. The buildings are falling apart, and same can be said for these types of schools across the country, situated in poor areas.

When Attending College in Upstate New York, downtown Schenectady, which is a ghost town and run down, had some really bad schools, while 1-2 miles down, where the white homeowners lived, their schools were adequate to say the least.


Some school districts may run things differently in certain states, as there are local laws and state laws that dictate how education is conducted per state. But from what I've seen, some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country have public schools that rival some of the private schools in new york city (which I attended $21K-$30K a year to attend although prices are probably higher today than when I went) in quality of education and future for the children who attend said schools.

Thats all Im saying.

 

[Agave_Blue]

I was speaking of public schools exclusively.

My contention is that environment is more important than money.

There is a balance and you have to have both, but less money <=> worse student performance and equal money <=> equal student performance.

 

[PraXis]

They've been throwing money at it for years, and it's failed. The private sector can educate kids at 1/3 the cost.

If you really want to keep gov't in it, we should model Belgium. They tie the money to the kid, and public schools are FORCED to compete against each other.

 

[snaredrum]

if you guys weren't still pretty much the most powerful country in the world, this would make me chuckle.

 

[Strikerfox]

I was speaking of public schools exclusively.

My contention is that environment is more important than money.

There is a balance and you have to have both, but less money <=> worse student performance and equal money <=> equal student performance.

I still stand by my comment about New Jersey.

 

[zplapplap]

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