The one reason teachers leave the field that is left out of most news articles: (percentage, advantages)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is not true for many school districts in Pennsylvania. I checked a few budgets in my county and they had considerably more money coming from the state than from local taxes. Here is one example.
Revenue from Local Sources 3,473,586
Revenue from State Sources 13,897,422
Revenue from Federal Sources 791,660
Total Estimated Revenues And Other Financing Sources $18,162,668
I agree about the larger school districts. I live in a rural county with 7 school districts and parts of three others. For the 2016-2017 school year, there were 9,486 students enrolled in those seven districts. Each of those districts has a superintendent, director of special education, athletic director, transportation director, curriculum director, technology director, business manager, etc. Many of those functions could be combined with a much smaller district administration office. In addition, it would be much easier for teachers to transfer between schools. Many PA teachers travel a long distance (over 40 miles each way) to work because they have to resign and lose seniority, etc. if they switch jobs. Many PA teachers start and retire from the same district and often in the same building.
I'm not clear how you came up with that data. According to multiple sources, "Pennsylvania contributes only 36 percent. This low state share means that Pennsylvania’s local school districts must pay 55 percent..."
I'm not clear how you came up with that data. According to multiple sources, "Pennsylvania contributes only 36 percent. This low state share means that Pennsylvania’s local school districts must pay 55 percent..."
Each school district in PA must complete the same 25 page FINAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET document, which is available on most district websites. The numbers I posted come from page 4 of that document.
The number you posted above is the average for the state. Many poor districts have a limited tax base and get a much higher share of their funding from the state. I live in a district with a higher tax base and 34.2% of next year's tentative budget is coming from the state.
Each school district in PA must complete the same 25 page FINAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET document, which is available on most district websites. The numbers I posted come from page 4 of that document.
The number you posted above is the average for the state. Many poor districts have a limited tax base and get a much higher share of their funding from the state. I live in a district with a higher tax base and 34.2% of next year's tentative budget is coming from the state.
And how exactly does that negate the comment that I made that you began responding to? I said, "Actually, most funding for public schools is from local taxes, not the state, and not the federal government."
I'm in Mississippi, which in the case of education, lives down to its reputation. This is not typical for schools in the United States, but it is not completely unheard of for schools that serve exceptionally poor children. You see, in the United States, the amount of money a school receives from the state corresponds in most cases with the amount of money the parents of the students contribute to the state. Poor parents = poor schools serving poor children.
That is one reason that I favor larger school systems...e.g., systems that cover a whole county.
At first I read "whole country" and agreed, then I read again, "county". I think it is not impossible to dream of, and demand whole-country-redistribution. There are some European countries where schools are equally funded all across the nation, without a bonus for richer regions and countries where the money for schools is redistributed with equalization payments from richer subdivsions to less-powerful subdivisions. And I think the system should be adopted by the US, too. (yeah I know, it won't change)
At first I read "whole country" and agreed, then I read again, "county". I think it is not impossible to dream of, and demand whole-country-redistribution. There are some European countries where schools are equally funded all across the nation, without a bonus for richer regions and countries where the money for schools is redistributed with equalization payments from richer subdivsions to less-powerful subdivisions. And I think the system should be adopted by the US, too. (yeah I know, it won't change)
Actually, I agree with you. But I know that will never happen.
The places that I think really lose out are like my home state. In Wayne County, there's a population of only 93,000+, but 11 different school systems. I find it bizarre.
Actually, I agree with you. But I know that will never happen.
The places that I think really lose out are like my home state. In Wayne County, there's a population of only 93,000+, but 11 different school systems. I find it bizarre.
Oh dear. The US are much more disatrous than I thought they are.
In a lot of European unitary states, there's one school system with up to a maximum of 5 different school types for the whole country (there are some exceptions made for special schools like Montessori schools, they make up only a minority of all schools, less than 10%).
And in European federal states, the same applies, just that within federal states each canton/state has its own school system (still more unified than the fragmented system of the US).
And even in these federal states, there are common complaints that a different school system makes it hard when moving from one state/canton into another within the nation with kids and there are demands to make it nation-unified.
I think that fragmentation does not necessairly have to be bad in more social market or socialist states, but pairing it with American ultaliberalism leads to vast fragmentation of society and the plurality of ways of teaching is overrated (the makers of each school system believe that they have the best school system, and then you have like 100 different systems, and let's be honest, if one is the best, the other 99 systems are superfluous).
Actually, I agree with you. But I know that will never happen.
The places that I think really lose out are like my home state. In Wayne County, there's a population of only 93,000+, but 11 different school systems. I find it bizarre.
Having just read my post again, I want to clarify. That's not a population of 93,000 students...that's a population of 93,000 people in the county...of all ages.
Having just read my post again, I want to clarify. That's not a population of 93,000 students...that's a population of 93,000 people in the county...of all ages.
So it seems like every neighborhood has the luxury to have its own school system...
I think it is not impossible to dream of, and demand whole-country-redistribution. There are some European countries where schools are equally funded all across the nation, without a bonus for richer regions and countries where the money for schools is redistributed with equalization payments from richer subdivsions to less-powerful subdivisions. And I think the system should be adopted by the US, too. (yeah I know, it won't change)
Life is extremely unfair and governments are not going to fix it. Nowhere. Not ever. All they can do is make a mess of it trying and they have made some amazing messes.
I do not know of anywhere in the USA where there is a government "bonus" for richer areas, but then I have only lived in two states since we had children.
Our current schools (Michigan) are equally funded for personnel (including teachers). Except some low performing districts can get extra money. They all get so much per student per day in class and they are not allowed to apply any extra to that. Low income schools tend to have worse attendance records so they often end up with less money because kids to not show up for school, and the government money is based entirely on kids in school times a number of days. However it is an equal amount for each kid day no matter where the school is located (subject some extra funding for schools that are in trouble).
We can vote for school money in local millages. This is a property tax we vote to impose on ourselves for special purposes. It is not just for school, it is for whatever specific purpose we vote for (could be schools, fire dept, police, bicycle trails etc). Millage money cannot be used to pay people. However, the physical buildings and equipment can be funded by local millages (taxes voted in by the people of the community). So, the government money is not siphoned off to fix leaks, or buy trumpets. they also get a lot of moeny through music boosters and other fund raising groups who again cannot pay teachers (but they can get them needed supplies, or even gifts, awards or the like.
In poor school districts, the rich people just send their kids to private schools. This is true in Europe or the US.
The worship of Europe as a place where all is good, wholesome and fair is amusing to me. My brother lives in Germany. It is not nirvana and actually not better than the USA. Just different in some ways. If you think rich kids in Germany or France, or Finland somehow do not get massive advantages over poor kids - you are mistaken.
I worked in a system where, if a student made a real attempt to complete an assignment, he couldn't get less than a 50. I didn't like that, but oh well.
But for not doing an assignment? They ought to get a zero and it ought to be reasonably on time...you know...sort of like the work world.
I just had a graduate school adjunct tell me that the lowest grade she has ever given a grad student is a C (considered failing, in most cases, at that level), and she's only given one of those. She said, "I had no choice, she literally never showed up to class."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
