School Districts (1 Viewer)

[varanook]

Anyone know why we have school districts? Whether it is federally funded, state funded etc...

Can one state do things differently than another?

Is it possible to abolish districts and switch to a system where the money goes with the child and the parents can pick the school provided they can get them there or within reason public transportation to get them there?

Just curious, I sent a letter to my local state and federal senator asking questions like this and where I could find more information on the subject.
My response was call the Ascension Parish School board, APSB's response was talk to your local senator.

So now I am asking y'all.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Well I don't know how Louisiana does it, but up here in Virginia the schools are run county by county. The majority of the schools funding comes from county property taxes. In the poorer areas, that is also supplemented by state and federal funds.

In recent years, however, there has been a push for more intense standardized testing in Virginia . Students are now required to pass a series of state tests, called standards-of-learning (SOL) that test core subject areas to graduate. Although it is still up to the county exactly what textbooks are used and how they course is taught, this has a big effect because there is alot of pressure to get a high passing rate. Other pedagogical goals like encouraging a love of knowledge, fostering creativity and logical thinking, etc. take a back seat to preparing students for a multiple guess test. .

 

[SharonT]

We have school districts because Americans demand/deserve local control. We do not have a centralized government-run education system like China for example. There are *some* national standards that must be met (mandates) but local districts have flexiblity on how they will meet those goals. We elect board members to run the district, but if we elect bozos, well...

If your question is about equity - how can we let some districts slip further down? That's where the State Dept of Ed steps in. State funding formulas are not always set up for equal success, either.

For the districting lines, I think districts initially petitioned the state to be recognized, and our state constitution now requires votes for deviations.

Funding - this depends on the state funding formula. Some states kick in more, some less. Some rely on property taxes, sales tax, lottery tax. Some allow districts to pass Bonds and Overrides, which means local residents vote to pay some additional tax to go only to their own district. (This is how you can get so wide a discrepancy between schools.) Yes, there is federal money for local school districts, but it depends on lots of red tape. Many times districts drop the ball and lose out on (some amount) money because of snafus.

Edit: Here's a PDF on School budgets: http://www.edsource.org/pdf/QA_budgetfinal.pdf

 

[varanook]

Thank you Sharon.