4 ms·

>Most school funding in the U.S. comes from local property tax. But if a district has a lot of poverty, then revenue from property tax is low This is a common

by treis 5y ago

>Most school funding in the U.S. comes from local property tax. But if a district has a lot of poverty, then revenue from property tax is low This is a common myth but it's not backed up by the numbers. Poverty is (mostly) concentrated in inner cities and those inner cities typically contain large office builds which pay lots of real estate taxes but send no kids to schools. If you look around different states the highest per pupil spending is by far in the cities. As an example, Atlanta public schools spends $15k per pupil while the surrounding suburban counties are 8-10k per pupil.

mnowicki 5y ago
that's interesting to hear, and I'll have to take your word on it for now, but I'm curious why(unless things have significantly changed in the past 6-7 years) inner-city schools are still horrendously bad. I've experienced schools in both the worst parts of Philadelphia as well as in middle-class suburbs of Philly, and the contrast is even more exaggerated than they make it seem on TV shows/movies that depict these types of schools. Obviously the students who are raised in these high-crime areas and surrounded by a community that's significantly harsher are going to be harder for teachers to manage, and I do think this is a very big part of it, but there are some things that clearly aren't related to that(such as equipment and the quality/quantity of staff)
- treis 5y ago
  What we think of as school quality is mostly the quality of the students. Richer districts have, on average, students of high SES with parents that are more willing & able to help their kids succeed in school. Poorer districts have, on average, lower SES kids with terrible living situations and parents. Having disruptive kids also makes educating them much more expensive. Discipline issues chew up a lot of resources and disrupt learning for other students. So you have to spend more to provide equal quality instruction. And, of course, just because they spend more money doesn't mean they spend it on things that help educating students.
  - esyir 5y ago
    Perhaps the people should provide the teachers /school with more ways to punish disruption. Let schools expel and suspend disruptive students. Don't let bad actors hurt the rest. But from what I've heard, they do the opposite.
- moduspol 5y ago
  > I'm curious why [...] inner-city schools are still horrendously bad. I encourage you to follow this train of thought. It may bring into question some fundamental assumptions in one's world view.
mcguire 5y ago
"Poverty is (mostly) concentrated in inner cities..." False. (https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/2014-2018-poverty-rate-by-county.html https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20...) Atlanta Public Schools, per student: $16,402, $8,923 instructional Fulton County Schools, $11,619, $7,021 instructional Buford City Schools, $11,299, $7,271 instructional Douglas County, $10,271, $6,577 instructional Clayton County, $10,472, $6,379 instructional State Charter Schools- Georgia Cyber Academy, $6,294, $5,224 instructional This is fun! https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolmap/ https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolmap/
- treis 5y ago
  >False.(https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20 https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20...) You're looking at county levels. If you look at the parts of cities with poor schools they will have nearly 100% of their students in poverty.

by treis 5y ago

mnowicki 5y ago

that's interesting to hear, and I'll have to take your word on it for now, but I'm curious why(unless things have significantly changed in the past 6-7 years) inner-city schools are still horrendously bad. I've experienced schools in both the worst parts of Philadelphia as well as in middle-class suburbs of Philly, and the contrast is even more exaggerated than they make it seem on TV shows/movies that depict these types of schools. Obviously the students who are raised in these high-crime areas and surrounded by a community that's significantly harsher are going to be harder for teachers to manage, and I do think this is a very big part of it, but there are some things that clearly aren't related to that(such as equipment and the quality/quantity of staff)

treis 5y ago
What we think of as school quality is mostly the quality of the students. Richer districts have, on average, students of high SES with parents that are more willing & able to help their kids succeed in school. Poorer districts have, on average, lower SES kids with terrible living situations and parents. Having disruptive kids also makes educating them much more expensive. Discipline issues chew up a lot of resources and disrupt learning for other students. So you have to spend more to provide equal quality instruction. And, of course, just because they spend more money doesn't mean they spend it on things that help educating students.
- esyir 5y ago
  Perhaps the people should provide the teachers /school with more ways to punish disruption. Let schools expel and suspend disruptive students. Don't let bad actors hurt the rest. But from what I've heard, they do the opposite.
moduspol 5y ago
> I'm curious why [...] inner-city schools are still horrendously bad. I encourage you to follow this train of thought. It may bring into question some fundamental assumptions in one's world view.

mcguire 5y ago

"Poverty is (mostly) concentrated in inner cities..." False. (https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/2014-2018-poverty-rate-by-county.html https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20...) Atlanta Public Schools, per student: $16,402, $8,923 instructional Fulton County Schools, $11,619, $7,021 instructional Buford City Schools, $11,299, $7,271 instructional Douglas County, $10,271, $6,577 instructional Clayton County, $10,472, $6,379 instructional State Charter Schools- Georgia Cyber Academy, $6,294, $5,224 instructional This is fun! https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolmap/ https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolmap/

treis 5y ago
>False.(https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20 https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/20...) You're looking at county levels. If you look at the parts of cities with poor schools they will have nearly 100% of their students in poverty.