Inequality in Education

As we consider inequality in America, one area we should consider is our education system and how it can work to both allow social mobility and inhibit it. One area where inequality in public education is stark is in dollars spent per student. There remains some debate as to whether spending more money on students can lead to better education for them, but what is not debatable is that some districts can raise millions of dollars in outside monies to the benefit of their students, while others must work with the funding allocated by the state/feds. This is in many ways allowed by the "neighborhood sorting" that Murray argues has occurred.

When considering school funding, you need to realize that while some of the money comes from the state and federal governments, other sources of revenue include donations, parcel taxes passed by the voters in a school district, and bonds passed by the voters (usually for construction).Not only is it far easier in CA to raise donations in a wealthy community, but also far easier to pass a parcel tax or bond to add to district revenue. Additionally, in California many public education advocates argue that Proposition 13, which caped property taxes, has served to harm public education funding and has resulted in an environment in which inequality in school funding exists.

If you have communities of almost all upper class parents, they can afford to help their schools become the best they can be. In my own community, the disparity was stark. The Menlo Park School District completed a new $52 million middle school last year, decked out with all the bells and whistles you could think of, and my own elementary district just passed a $60 million bond for remodeling, while many students who attend Willow Oaks School, located in the much poorer Ravenswood School District, went to class in portables plopped on a parking lot. A focus on district revenue and the millions that districts like Menlo Park raise every year to sustain low class sizes, classroom technology initiatives, et cetera, should not detract from how schools located in poor neighborhoods must also combat all the issues that come along with the low socio-economic status of their students.

The following articles discuss the culture of school funding and what we can do to remedy the issue. A couple of these articles were especially significant to me, because they examined the area and culture I grew up in. If you are short on time, I highly recommend you read the article by George Packer. His was a particularly interesting analysis not only of public education funding, but also of Silicon Valley political culture. For the record, I do not agree with all of the arguments or characterizations these authors make, in particular Packer's demonization of "Silicon Valley excess" (I paraphrase), but do see all the articles as eloquently capturing a very real problem.

George Packer: "Change the World"
And the "Reply from Silicon Valley" (less relevant to the public education part, more about Silicon Valley culture)

Rob Reich: "Not Very Giving"

Richard Reves: "Funding Gaps in Public Schools"

Raj Chetty and John Friedman; Harvard Univ. Study: "Does Local Tax Financing of Public Schools Perpetuate Inequality?"