Written By Ethan St. Pierre
Public education acts as a foundation for every American. Whether you come from a white-collar lineage in the suburbs of New York or are the child of coal miners in West Virginia, you likely went to public school at some point in your life. These institutions are designed to educate and excite future generations that can lead the fight for American innovation and ingenuity in the workforce. With every passing minute in the school day, K through 12 teachers are influencing and inspiring future presidents, congress people, economists, doctors, lawyers, judges, etc. — and yet, we seldom discuss or consider to what extent these institutions are funded let alone how funding may compare from one region to another. While issues such as gerrymandering, institutionalized inequality, and redlining have damaged America’s socioeconomic structure, it isn’t far off to imagine that these issues have crept their way into the quality, or perhaps inequality, of public education. Here – I look to investigate this claim based on the current structure of funding for public education.
Understanding how public education is funded is crucial to interpreting how one’s public education experience may differ from another’s. Currently, local property taxes account for nearly half of public education funding (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2021). You read that right… roughly 40-50% of funding for public education is directly correlated to the value of the property and area that the local institution is founded upon. Reassessing my opening comparison of a West Virginian child of coal miners and a member of a wealthy suburban New York family showcases stark contrast after this reality has been brought to light. Sure, both of these individuals likely attended public school; however, the quality of that education would be drastically different when comparing a wealthy New York suburb to a blue-collar neighborhood in West Virginia. The revenue collected in property taxes from a desirable and highly touted New York suburban property would tower in comparison to taxes collected on the run-of-the-mill West Virginian soil.
If you are a University of Michigan student, or a citizen in the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County area, and are skeptical of the impact that property value can have on public education, then I challenge you to witness the disparity for yourself. Take a trip to Ypsilanti High School off of Packard Street and analyze the condition of this establishment. Once you take in the views of the more diverse, lower-priced property, head northwest toward Ann Arbor Skyline High School. Northern Ann Arbor has extremely high valued property – and it shows in the quality of this high school. These schools are separated by roughly 10 miles, but the quality of education isn’t even comparable. The resources made accessible to students at these two schools vary drastically; all you have to do is look at the exterior of these buildings to see that this is true. Ann Arbor Skyline High School has a graduation rate of 95% which ranks in the top 20% of all high schools in Michigan (Skyline High School, 2021). Conversely, The graduation rate for high schools in the Ypsilanti school district comes out to an aggregate of 69% — this places the district in the bottom 50% of Michigan high schools (Ypsilanti, 2021). Continuing down the stats path will lead you to numbers that showcase drastic differences in reading and math proficiency as well as student-to-teacher ratios; this can be directly correlated to lower chances at collegiate education attainment, and it all circles back to vastly different property values for tax collection between these two institutions.
Stepping away from the problems created in a property tax-based public education system, let’s take a look at where the other half of public education funding is coming from. Additional funding for primary and secondary education comes from state collected income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, etc. This makes up around 48% of the K-12 budget (Park, 2011). A study done by Education Next roughly a decade ago helps to shed light on how these funds are allocated to school districts. Their study finds that, in modern times, school districts have a fairly equitable allocation of these state collected funds; however, they also found that true disparities and inequities can be found in allocation within the districts themselves. This is a common problem within modern American progression—one step forward, one step back.
Surely the federal government has taken the possibility of harshly inequitable education conditions into account and thus decided on programs to help combat these disparities, right? Well, the short answer is no. The federal government makes up the remainder of public education spending which is usually around 8% of the total figure (Park, 2011). Since 2010, the US Department of Education’s total annual public education budget has been cut by nearly $120 billion—the bulk of this cut came in 2017 as roughly $100 billion was scratched out of this budget (Hanson, 2021). Decades of increased funding in public education have been followed by a decade of education budget cuts. Considering a recent gubernatorial election in Virginia was heavily based on the topic of public education, you would think that public education funding would be a more prominent figure of importance for local constituents; this ended up taking a back seat to the debate over what students are taught in the classroom.
So what can we do to combat and possibly resolve these issues? For starters, this should describe just how important state and local elected officials are—whether that be governors or school board members. These state legislators are the ones with power to influence and implement how resources are allocated in the school system, so it is important to conduct due diligence before voting at a local/state level (if public education quality is of importance to you … and it should be). Personally, I think the federal government should invest more money per pupil than they currently are and allocate more of the national budget towards public education. We are willing to charge American taxpayers nearly a trillion dollars every year to fund the military and national defense — perhaps we should start using these kinds of figures to invest in the future of our nation. The reality is, these types of issues don’t have black and white correct solutions. All we know for sure is that students in inequitable school conditions deserve better, and we owe each child a fair shot at access to quality education. If we’re going to have a capitalistic living environment, the least we could do is give future competitors an equal chance at succeeding in the classroom.
Work Cited
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2021). Overview of Funding for Pre-K–12 Education. Overview of Funding for Pre-K–12 Education. https://www.asha.org/advocacy/schoolfundadv/overview-of-funding-for-pre-k-12-education/
Chen, G. (2021, March 31). An Overview of the Funding of Public Schools | PublicSchoolReview.com. Public School Review. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/an-overview-of-the-funding-of-public-schools
Hanson, M. (2021, August 2). U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics. Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics
Park, J. (2011, June 20). School Finance. Education Week. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/school-finance/2007/12
Roza, M. (2020, August 13). Do Districts Fund Schools Fairly? Education Next. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.educationnext.org/do-districts-fund-schools-fairly/
Skyline High School (2021–22 Ranking) | Ann Arbor, MI. (2021, November 15). Public School Review. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/skyline-high-school-profile/48103
Ypsilanti Community Schools School District (2021–22) | Ypsilanti, MI. (2021, November 15). Ypsilanti Community Schools School District. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/michigan/ypsilanti-community-schools-school-district/2636630-school-district/high