WOW! this is really depressing. I know I didn’t get into education for the money, but no money? “More affluent schools generated eight times the private funding as poorer schools.” I see this quite frequently where my kids went to school in east county. It is very apparent that where the shortfall in funding is the parents of more affluent schools step in and help with that gap. So how do we make it fair for our less affluent schools?
What teacher is even going to want to teach in low poverty schools, you have no resources, no books, and more students. I was in 5th or 6th grade when proposition 13 passed and I remember all the cuts that came to our school. We no longer had 6th grade camp, no more art or PE and they took away freshman sports. I give those teachers who stuck it out a huge pat on the back and now they are facing it all over again.
”These patterns are largely due to unequal distribution of school resources (including highly qualified teachers) and other factors that negatively affect teachers’ work lives in poorer neighborhoods.” How is it fair that poorer schools get the short end of the stick when these students don’t have the home support to help them succeed. I have always felt that we have our system backwards. New teachers are usually placed in these low poverty schools where they are challenged with discipline, students below grade level, and not much support. Why not take the experienced teachers out of the more affluent schools and place them where the most help is needed. New teachers would go to the more affluent schools to learn and be mentored. These students have the home support to make them successful. Just a thought.
I don’t know the answer to the budget crises but I do believe that if teachers were allowed to do what they were trained to do that those gaps would close.
Hey Debi, In response to your question of “How do we make it fair for less affluent schools?”, I was doing a bit of digging into school funding policies in other states and came across this interesting resource: http://www.schoolfunding.info/
This website gives information about advocacy groups in every state that are working towards more equitable funding. It also gives news briefs and background information about school funding across the country.
This is such a challenging problem. Districts can’t and shouldn’t force strong teachers from affluent schools into inner city schools. I would rather have a green TFA teacher with a passion for social justice and reaching every child than a veteran teacher that prefers teaching AP classes in affluent schools in our inner city schools. The problem is that so many leave the profession or leave the inner city as they grow in their career. How do we recommit them to the cause and create a supportive, purpose-based community to sustain the work?