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This already exists and it doesn't quite work. School funding and outcomes are less well correlated than you might expect. Some of the worst performing schools

by 323454 5y ago

This already exists and it doesn't quite work. School funding and outcomes are less well correlated than you might expect. Some of the worst performing schools and districts are also the best funded. The top causal factor appears to be parental involvement: highly involved parents in even poorly funded schools is better than uninvolved parents in well funded schools.

settrans 5y ago
It exists in many, many states in some form or another: New Jersey (where every dollar collected from the progressive income tax is funneled redistributionarily to municipalities), Connecticut, and Vermont to name a couple. For one eye-popping counterexample to the notion that redistributionary school funding policies are effective, it might be worth understanding what happened in Newark[0], where 75% of the school is paid for the state already. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/19/schooled https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/19/schooled
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  Property taxes pay for local schools in NJ.
  - vageli 5y ago
    Yes for a portion of the school's funding. In NJ there also exist Abbott districts which receive additional funding from the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district
ghaff 5y ago
It's very common for urban public schools in particular to have the highest or near-highest funding per student in a state and some of the lowest outcomes in terms of standardized testing and other quantifiable measurements.
spicymaki 5y ago
That makes sense. Ultimately when you have distress at home caused by poverty, violence, neglect, etc. the student will be at a disadvantage no matter how good the school is. Distressed parents will lead to distressed children and then distressed schools which creates a cycle. This is ultimately a hard problem to solve because so many issues need to be fixed simultaneously. College is way too late to address this.
- jimbob45 5y ago
  I was going to say exactly this. I’ll add that free state-sponsored daycare would probably do more for minorities than anything college-related ever could.

by 323454 5y ago

settrans 5y ago

It exists in many, many states in some form or another: New Jersey (where every dollar collected from the progressive income tax is funneled redistributionarily to municipalities), Connecticut, and Vermont to name a couple. For one eye-popping counterexample to the notion that redistributionary school funding policies are effective, it might be worth understanding what happened in Newark[0], where 75% of the school is paid for the state already. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/19/schooled https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/19/schooled

heavyset_go 5y ago
Property taxes pay for local schools in NJ.
- vageli 5y ago
  Yes for a portion of the school's funding. In NJ there also exist Abbott districts which receive additional funding from the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district

ghaff 5y ago

It's very common for urban public schools in particular to have the highest or near-highest funding per student in a state and some of the lowest outcomes in terms of standardized testing and other quantifiable measurements.

spicymaki 5y ago

That makes sense. Ultimately when you have distress at home caused by poverty, violence, neglect, etc. the student will be at a disadvantage no matter how good the school is. Distressed parents will lead to distressed children and then distressed schools which creates a cycle. This is ultimately a hard problem to solve because so many issues need to be fixed simultaneously. College is way too late to address this.

jimbob45 5y ago
I was going to say exactly this. I’ll add that free state-sponsored daycare would probably do more for minorities than anything college-related ever could.