Why are public schools nicer in good neighborhoods and bad in badder neighborhoods?

Question

By nice, I mean the teachers were more knowledgeable and the school had computers and TV's with DVD's in almost every classroom. Bad neighorhoods high schools dont.

Why is that?

Schools arent federally funded?

Where do our tax returns go then.

very, very interesting.

Answer 1

An excellent question, Grasshopper. Having taught in many schools, good and 'badder', the difference in quality of the physical plant of the schools is striking. Local schools are financed by local property taxes. If your school is located in a school districted populated by wealthy people the property taxes collected in that area are high. If in a poor part of a city, property tax collection is low, or at least lower. State and federal funds are supposed to equalize this difference, but there's a flaw in this approch. 'Poor' areas tend to have more students from unstable homes, behavior problem kids, non-english speakers and a host of other problems. This requires more money for 'special' education and support services....thus less money for computers, books and other educational aids. That's the Cliffnotes version of the problem..it's a lot more complex. The main problem is that our state and federal governments doesn't see this as a problem...blame the teachers seems to be the mantra when speaking of 'under performing' schools.

Answer 2

Same reason the badder neighborhoods are bad. Those public schools get more resources than the so called good schools. It's got more to do with the kids going to them. The culture needs to change in those bad neighborhoods or they are doomed to keep failing generation after generation as they are now. Yeah I know. I'm a racist. What's new?

Answer 3

There is a certain amount of money given to schools. Extra is given to schools surrounded by families who have a lower economic profile.

Ethics and standards in such families tend to be low, and nice equipment rarely lasts out the school year. Much of the money is spent on discipline and repair of equipment. As a result, the benefits of such technology aren't actualized and the students suffer by their own hands.

Simple solution. Stop trying to make the schools equal.

Have schools in threes.
1) All schools have the same money.
2) All schools have different staff.
3) All schools have different technology.

A) School A has technology and staff aimed at entertainment and education.

B) School B has technology and staff with a mixture of School A and B.

C) School C has technology and staff aimed at discipline.

Publicize them that way. Tell the students and parents that students will be placed based on behavior and grades.

The standards of all three will go up consistently as they strive to get into the top school and all of them have the "bar" raised slightly without them realizing it.

Answer 4

Cranberrry Chutney has it dead on.

There was an elementary school in a poor Dallas suburb for which my old school used to raise funds. The funds repainted the school one year (first time in over 12 years) and bought the kids library books one year --- their library had almost no books.

Think about that. An elementary school with no books in their library.

Contrast that with Southlake Carroll --- a high school in a suburb where the average home is valued at 400K (quite a lot in Texas). I think I recall this properly, but the Dallas Cowboys leased their INDOOR FOOTBALL TRAINING FACILITY at one point.

The funding of public schools is all about keeping the poor poor for generations and is a huge reason I tend to vote democrat. Kids should have a fair chance to succeed regardless of the financial status of their parents.

Answer 5

some school districts are better off than other..IE. we have a small rural school, k-12 that is on land on which a power company is located. they pay taxes based on their property tax assessments and schools are allotted a portion based on taxes paid.

" A century ago, many school districts owned property bestowed on them by law when the land was first surveyed and platted. This land was used for school-yards, rented to farmers and sold, Today very few school districts own income property, and even those rare exceptions, such as the Chicago Board of Education with its several Loop properties, derive only a tiny percentage of operating
revenues from income property. Another minute portion of school expenses is covered by bequests in wills and donations by civic groups such as PTAs. The only significant source of local revenue is the property tax."

state and federal funding are also allotted to schools based on the number of children attending. that is one reason why attendance is stressed by the schools.

Answer 6

Part of school funding comes from property tax. Good neighborhoods = more money.

Answer 7

Cause # 1 teachers dont want to teach in bad neighbor hoods.. But I understand that kids need to be taught no matter what environment they live in.. Its sad really sad when it get like this. In the bad neigh. the teachers are just there and kinda in limbo. I wish it werent this way cause kids are everywhere and its up to us to make sure they get a good education no matter what.

Answer 8

It is a combination of a few factors including--but not limited to: The People in the areas, the amount of Wealth in the area, and the amount of Crime in the area. High crime, low wealth, ignorant--as in purposefully--people equals bad schools. Middle crime, middle wealth, so-so peoples, middle wealth equals so-so schools....you get the idea.

As to the equipment, well crime may just explain that as well, and wealth may just too; but crime and wealth indexed will explain that just right!

Answer 9

As for the equipment, no one breaks into the school and steals it. As for the teachers, how motivated would you be if you had to teach in a place like Bed-Sty or Liberty City?

Answer 10

property taxes

the state gets federal funding and it distributes the money (thats where it gets controversial when the states use standardized testing to determine who gets how much money, here in FL bad schools get less money and good schools get more) to counties where they add the property taxes and fund the schools.