Not Black but Green
(A look at insufficient funds in the poorest school systems in Georgia)
Access to equal yet quality education has been a problem stemming back from the landmark Supreme Court case “Brown vs. Board of Education” (1954). Why should any school, regardless of its geographical location, be considered inferior? Schools should never lack text books, an up to par curriculum, first-rate teachers, and extracurricular activities. As a resident of Georgia, I have been researching the school funding system that’s in place.
Currently, school systems receive equalization grants based on property taxes in relation to the number of students in that district. Set up in 1985, the equalization formula was designed to reward school systems with lower property taxes basis while income is not a part of the formula. Subsequently, with the collapse of the real estate market, the largest grants didn’t go to rural or poor counties. Surprisingly, the largest grants went to urban counties where there were a large number of students.
REALLY?
I am fighting to understand how schools in Gwinnett County with some of the state’s best schools and largest median income received more money ($43 million to be exact) than schools in counties such as Calhoun and Hancock. Some of the state’s poorest counties that lack sufficient textbooks, extracurricular activities, and teachers received ZERO dollars. Legislators are working to eradicate this issue to insure that the poorer counties are receiving a sufficient amount of money.
*Information about equalization grants taken from http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/poor-schools-still-get-the-short-end-1/nQWZk/
Not BLACK but green
There is a misconception that only predominantly black school systems lack proper funding and I must admit that I held this misconception for years. It’s not about black or white, but about the color green. The issue at hand is not about racial classification but socioeconomic status.
The Movie, “Won’t Back Down”
The movie “Won’t Back Down” hit theaters on 9/28/12 and portrays two mother’s fight for quality education for their children in a failing inner city school (California). I’m interested to see how this movie will strengthen and/or weaken my viewpoint of the educational funding system here in Georgia.
breakingthemode 