Some years ago we were visiting friends who live in an Atlanta suburb. They were describing the conditions in their local public school and to us they sounded horrible. I remember thinking that the strategy seemed to be to put as little into public schools as possible and allow the wealthier parents to spend money to send their kids to private schools allowing these parents to invest directly in their own kids.
My personal experience has always been with the way state-supported higher education is funded. I also think issues related to the cost and support of higher education get more attention. The results of this attention are now always positive (from my perspective), but various positions are argued in public. The funding models are also obviously different. State funds from tax revenue provide some support for institutions at both levels, but k12 support relies mostly on local property taxes and higher education on tuition and contributions for the rest.
Recovery from the economic collapse has been painful. I was less aware of how K-12 budgets have suffered. Both government and local support have been slow to respond to the needs of students. Schools have been asked to meet higher standards with fewer resources.
Both articles linked from this post focus on the politics of this lack of support. The U.S. News and World report article contains this statement highlighting the heavy burden placed on funding for education.
“When families face tough budget choices, parents’ first priority is to protect the kids,” First Focus President Bruce Lesley said in a statement. “But Congress is actually cutting funding for children more than twice as fast as spending overall.”
