Why poor public schools will remain impoverished

As long as we continue to fund local school districts based on the tax base of those respective districts, poor school districts will always remain poorly funded and under-performing, and hard pressed to attract top teachers.

A radical option, that’s equitable, is to pool all state and federal taxes earmarked for public schools districts in one pot of money. Divide this designated line item by the total head count of students attending specific school districts. This ensures that every district is funded equitably. It’s a fair approach to leveling the playing field of educational funding.

Currently, students attending school districts in very affluent communities receive greater resources and funding because they draw from a wealthy tax base of residents. The result is higher salaries for teachers, greater in-class resources for the teachers/students, and well maintained school facilities and buildings.

The opposite is true for students attending school districts that are located in impoverished communities. School districts that draw from an impoverished tax base of residents will experience extremely limited inclass resources for teachers/ students, poorly maintained buildings, poorly maintained facilities, and most likely consistently underperforming students.

• The Haves vs. the HaveNots: For example, consider two school districts in Pennsylvania: Wallingford Swarthmore School District (affluent community) and Big Beaver Falls Area School District (low-income community).

Wallingford-Swarthmore:

According to Niche.com, the Average Teacher Salary in Wallingford -Swarthmore is $84,883.

Total Expenses:

$67,117,000. Expenses Per Student:

$21,387/ student. Average SAT: 1280. Average ACT: 29 Percent Proficient - Reading: 84 percent.

Percent Proficient Math: 71 percent.

Big Beaver Falls Area School District:

According to Niche.com, the Average Teacher Salary in Big Beaver Falls Area School District is $63,202.

Total Expenses

$25,025,000. Expenses Per Student:

$14,750/ student. Average SAT: 1050. Average ACT: 24 Percent Proficient - Reading: 52 percent.

Percent Proficient Math: 32 percent.

Equitable funding for public schools is a long term solution to ensuring that we equip all our schools with the quality of resources, facilities, buildings, and high talent/well paid teachers to create a more competitive and educated talent pool for the workforce.

According to the U.S. Census, only 36 percent of adults 25 to 34 years old have a college degree in America.

Every year, more than

1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day (source: Tony Miller, “Partnering for Education Reform.” U.S. Department of Education. Accessed February

18, 2015)! Equitable funding for public schools ensures that America is truly vested in up-scaling the educational success of its entire citizenry, not just the affluent. Equitable funding for public schools can help produce a more robust talent pool of smarter and innovative Americans, which will make this country more competitive in the global marketplace.

Sadly, every year, we accept an inequitable, antiquated, status quo school funding formula that keeps poor school districts poor! Why aren’t we demanding change in reforming public education funding? Ponder that.

“School districts that draw from an impoverished tax base of residents will experience extremely limited in-class resources.”

— Rev. Michael Robinson