Why the US Needs to Equalize Education

Education in the United States is far from equal. In fact, in some states, per pupil spending ranges from a mere $4,000 to a high of $35,000, according to the Associated Press. While this outrageous gap illustrates one extreme example of unequal education, unfortunately, there are many others.

One cause of this huge disparity is that, according to Rayburn in 2004, the United States Federal Government provides less than 7% of public school's funding. Because more than 50% of a given school's funding is achieved through local property taxes, the amount of funding a given community can provide for 'their' schools is greatly based on the affluence of the community. This results in large discrepancy between school districts from state to state and even within most states.

Unequal education funding would not be so bad if it had no impacts, but as evidenced by a September 4, 2008 report from the Associated Press, unequal education puts poor children at a disadvantage and directly impacts their ability to succeed and to rise from poverty.

As the Chicago Tribune said on August 22, 2008, the current way of funding public schools has proven discriminatory against minorities. It has been empirically shown that the per pupil funding between colored students and Caucasian students leaves a lot to be desired. Take for example, Illinois.

According to the education reform advocacy group A+ Illinois, Illinois ranks 49th in the nation in the state-contributed funding of schools. The low share of funding leaves a big hole to fill: 62 percent of the average school district's income must come from local sources. That gap creates very real educational impacts-in the quality of teachers, the number of computers available to students, even whether books get replaced. While some affluent schools are able to spend as much as $23,000 per student each year, others can afford only about $6,000. Sadly, these differences correspond to race.

Quality education should be available to all regardless of income. There are many compelling reasons for equity in our educational system. Unequal education funding affects cities and states. Currently, African-American and Latino male freshmen have only about a 3 percent chance of obtaining a bachelor's degree by the time they're 25. Eliminating the property-tax based system and switching to a federally funded system will not only boost educational levels but will also improve the numbers of students making it through college. And that will strengthen our cities, our states and our nation.