3 ms·

Wait, public schools for children are not funded by the government in the US?

by achn 6y ago

MattGaiser 6y ago
They are not funded by the national government. They are mostly funded by city and county governments, with some money from state governments. Basically each city or county is mostly responsible for paying for the education of the children within its boundaries. EDIT: I am slightly off on the percentages. See the comment below.
- tomweingarten 6y ago
  "On average, 8% of revenues are federal, 47% from the state, and 45% locally sourced" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_funding_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_funding_in_the_U...
- achn 6y ago
  deleted
  - drstewart 6y ago
    You realize this is exactly the same as how schools are funded in Canada, correct? You have provincial funding, not federal funding. >Public schools are the responsibility of individual provincial departments of education and funded mainly from local and provincial taxes, with some federal funds. https://www.justlanded.com/english/Canada/Canada-Guide/Education/Public-Schools#:~:text=There%20isn't%20a%20federal%20government%20controlled%20or,state%20school%20system%20in%20Canada.&text=Public%20schools%20are%20the%20responsibility,taxes%2C%20with%20some%20federal%20funds https://www.justlanded.com/english/Canada/Canada-Guide/Educa....
    - slavik81 6y ago
      There's an enormous difference between provincially funded and locally funded, though. In Alberta at least, the funding is effectively entirely provincial. There aren't any significant spending disparities based on the local neighbourhood's ability to pay.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- indemnity 6y ago
  Explains a lot about the state of primary and secondary education in the USA. How can such a system not lead to massive disparities in quality and access to education, if there isn't a federal backstop to make up for differences in funding available from the state/county. Is there such a thing? Glad I live in a country where schools get funding based on factors like socio-economic status of surrounding community (the poorer the community, the more funding from central government).
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    > Is there such a thing? No. Plenty of poorer states would oppose it if there were anyway.
  - ikeyany 6y ago
    There are massive disparities. If you're an upper-middle class parent, you are primarily concerned with getting your kids in nice schools, as one's life trajectory in the US correlates very strongly with the kind of schools one went to.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ip26 6y ago
Low-income districts are particularly troubled because of plunging revenue amid the Covid-19 recession. Districts rely for revenue on local property taxes and state subsidies. Poorer districts, where property tax revenue is low, rely on states for most of their income. With states hit hard by falling income and sales taxes, aid to school districts is dwindling in many places. -- TFA Property tax revenues will also probably be dropping.
tathougies 6y ago
They are, by state and local governments.
paxys 6y ago
They are funded at the state/city level, mainly by property taxes. This is why there is such a drastic difference in quality of education from school to school, and why local school rankings are a big factor in determining housing prices across the country.
readhn 6y ago
They are funded by real estate taxes (high housing prices help fill local budgets) and income taxes.
mjmahone17 6y ago
They are, but at a hyper local level. School districts generally coincide loosely with city boundaries, and are usually funded through a combination of local taxes (usually property taxes, but it depends on the district), state education budgets, and a small amount of federal funding. Because the bulk of the funding comes from local sources, when a local economy collapses the school district has no backstop, and their funding can get much closer to just the state and federal funds. When states reduce budgets due to those same economic issues, those areas get devastated.
- AuthorizedCust 6y ago
  School district boundaries depend on the state. All school districts in Texas that actually run schools--except for one--are completely independent of cities and counties. Their boundaries are completely unrelated to city or county boundaries.

Wait, public schools for children are not funded by the government in the US?

by achn 6y ago

Wait, public schools for children are not funded by the government in the US?

They are not funded by the national government. They are mostly funded by city and county governments, with some money from state governments. Basically each city or county is mostly responsible for paying for the education of the children within its boundaries. EDIT: I am slightly off on the percentages. See the comment below.

tomweingarten 6y ago
"On average, 8% of revenues are federal, 47% from the state, and 45% locally sourced" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_funding_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_funding_in_the_U...
achn 6y ago
deleted
- drstewart 6y ago
  You realize this is exactly the same as how schools are funded in Canada, correct? You have provincial funding, not federal funding. >Public schools are the responsibility of individual provincial departments of education and funded mainly from local and provincial taxes, with some federal funds. https://www.justlanded.com/english/Canada/Canada-Guide/Education/Public-Schools#:~:text=There%20isn't%20a%20federal%20government%20controlled%20or,state%20school%20system%20in%20Canada.&text=Public%20schools%20are%20the%20responsibility,taxes%2C%20with%20some%20federal%20funds https://www.justlanded.com/english/Canada/Canada-Guide/Educa....
  - slavik81 6y ago
    There's an enormous difference between provincially funded and locally funded, though. In Alberta at least, the funding is effectively entirely provincial. There aren't any significant spending disparities based on the local neighbourhood's ability to pay.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
indemnity 6y ago
Explains a lot about the state of primary and secondary education in the USA. How can such a system not lead to massive disparities in quality and access to education, if there isn't a federal backstop to make up for differences in funding available from the state/county. Is there such a thing? Glad I live in a country where schools get funding based on factors like socio-economic status of surrounding community (the poorer the community, the more funding from central government).
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  > Is there such a thing? No. Plenty of poorer states would oppose it if there were anyway.
- ikeyany 6y ago
  There are massive disparities. If you're an upper-middle class parent, you are primarily concerned with getting your kids in nice schools, as one's life trajectory in the US correlates very strongly with the kind of schools one went to.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

ip26 6y ago

Low-income districts are particularly troubled because of plunging revenue amid the Covid-19 recession. Districts rely for revenue on local property taxes and state subsidies. Poorer districts, where property tax revenue is low, rely on states for most of their income. With states hit hard by falling income and sales taxes, aid to school districts is dwindling in many places. -- TFA Property tax revenues will also probably be dropping.

tathougies 6y ago

They are, by state and local governments.

paxys 6y ago

They are funded at the state/city level, mainly by property taxes. This is why there is such a drastic difference in quality of education from school to school, and why local school rankings are a big factor in determining housing prices across the country.

readhn 6y ago

They are funded by real estate taxes (high housing prices help fill local budgets) and income taxes.

mjmahone17 6y ago

They are, but at a hyper local level. School districts generally coincide loosely with city boundaries, and are usually funded through a combination of local taxes (usually property taxes, but it depends on the district), state education budgets, and a small amount of federal funding. Because the bulk of the funding comes from local sources, when a local economy collapses the school district has no backstop, and their funding can get much closer to just the state and federal funds. When states reduce budgets due to those same economic issues, those areas get devastated.

AuthorizedCust 6y ago
School district boundaries depend on the state. All school districts in Texas that actually run schools--except for one--are completely independent of cities and counties. Their boundaries are completely unrelated to city or county boundaries.