SCHOOL FUNDING

School Funding

Table of Contents

Background3

Governance: How Are Schools Regulated and Run?3

Variables4

Societal Impact on Educational Needs4

Relationships6

The Increasing Costs of Education8

Goals Have Increased9

People Want Better Education10

Emerging Issues in School Governance and Finance12

The Consequences of Not Educating People13

Illiteracy13

Unemployment14

Military Service Incapability14

Prison Incarceration14

Inadequate Occupational Preparation15

Dependence on Public Relief16

High Health Costs17

Society Suffers the Effects of Poor Education18

Insights19

Conclusion19

References21

School and Education Funding

Background

No adequate substitutes have been coined to replace the clichés “Education in the United States is big business” and “Education is a major user of the nation's economic resources.” Although the meanings of the statements are obvious, they fail to communicate their real significance. Rel atively few people realize the enormity of educational operations in this country. As “big business,” the field of formal education employs more people than any other industry in the United States.

Year after year student and community services offered by the public schools have continued to increase in spite of the rising costs of education. Most of the normal improvements in living discovered by scientific research, social conditions, and economic circumstances soon find a place in the curriculum of the schools. The school constantly receives added responsibilities for teaching new programs, improved techniques, and better processes. Seldom, if ever, are successful school services taken away and given to other agencies or institutions.

Governance: How Are Schools Regulated and Run?

The responsibility for governing schools in the United States is given to the states by the U.S. Constitution. Within each state, the governor and state legislature are aided by the state office of education in regulating school functions.

Local control of education, a uniquely American idea, occurs through individual school districts. Each district is governed by a local school board, containing lay people from the community, and administered by a district superintendent. The superintendent is responsible for running the district office as well as overseeing the operations of the individual schools within the district. Principals play a major role in shaping the instructional agendas at the individual school level. (Benson, 2008)

Districts are part of a larger state governance structure determined by the state's constitution. Within this structure the state governor and legislature provide leadership through bills and initiatives. The overall responsibility for education in the state goes to the state board of education. Assisting this board is the state superintendent (or commissioner or secretary), who is assisted by and responsible for the state office of education.

Variables

Society recognizes the fact that there are few, if any, institutions that are better prepared or equipped than the schools to render or provide for certain emerging services. The point is that such additional services require additional funds and the taxpaying public must accept financial responsibility for the added costs.

Schools are funded from three different sources. Almost one half of school funds come from local sources, which typically use property taxes to collect revenues. States provide another major source of funding and typically do this through state income taxes and special taxes. The third and smallest source of school funding is the federal ...