Based on the article there is quite a bit to address. This post is long enough so I've divided it into two.
PART I
From the article:
Quote:When low-income minority children can attend truly integrated schools, their achievement rises, not because black children need to sit next to white children to succeed, but because integrated schools are not overwhelmed with children’s social and economic problems and can instead focus on instruction.
I have been researching education issues for a few years now beginning when Common Core State Standards began to make the news. That research drove me back to various UN efforts to standardize education on a global scale dating back a few decades.
While researching I looked at a few school districts in West Tennessee (where I live) as well as a few other districts across the state. At the time TN had around 107 school districts across 95 counties.
Shelby County had two districts:
1. Memphis City Schools (MCS)
2. Shelby County Schools (SCS)
MCS covered the city of Memphis and had roughly 110,000 students while SCS covered all areas in Shelby County outside of the Memphis city limits. SCS enrollment was around 45,000.
Fayette County neighbors Shelby County (Memphis) to the east. The counties are roughly geographically the same size yet Fayette County has 5% of the population -- 39,000 vs 940,000.
Fayette County Schools (FCS) enrolls 3,550 students, a fraction of MCS. However, both school systems are similar in that their student body is greater than 50% minority.
The budget for both systems came out to roughly $11,000 per student per academic year.
Both systems -- MCS and FCS -- rank near the bottom of the state in the various areas of measure (graduation rate, grades, etc).
Other systems ranked much higher and had lower funding per student. For example, Shelby County Schools had a student body that was a majority white with per student funding around $8,500 and ranked among the best in the state.
Each state is responsible for education and establishes school districts to be administered at the local level. Even so, the district answers to the state.
In TN, school funding is composed of (in order):
1. State dollars
2. Local dollars
3. Federal dollars
What I found interesting is that federal dollars make up the SMALLEST portion of the budget -- usually less than 10% of the overall budget. In some districts such as MCS and FCS it is slightly higher.
NOTE: The Memphis City Schools school district no longer exists. It gave up its charter and became part of Shelby County Schools. That district went from an enrollment of approximately 45,000 to over 150,000 over night.
The last MSC budget was $980M -- nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS.
The largest expense line item? Wages and Salaries.
Add to that the line item of Employee Benefits and nearly 80% of the budget went to employee compensation or somewhere close to $765M.
The remaining $215M is allocated to facilities (building and land), buses (gas, maintenance), grounds (campus upkeep), etc.
When it gets down to it, very little is left to spend on direct student costs. This explains why teachers ask parents to send classroom supplies like pens, pencils, paper, etc.
Keep in mind that other school districts in the state with less minority enrollment AND less funding per student traditionally perform at a higher academic level.
We can see with direct evidence that increased funding per student does NOT result in increased academic performance.
This is one reason why I oppose increasing taxes for schools -- more $$$ does not equal better performance.
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Schools need income diversity, not more money
