Education Funding: A Never Ending Battle

Every year lawmakers have to go through it again

edCircuit Breakdown:

• Arizona recently held a statewide town hall meeting, where citizens said that the state was failing children when it came to education. They want the state to double its education spending, including giving teachers a significant raise.
• In Wyoming, legislators advanced bills to slash $16 million from education in order to help reduce a massive education budget shortfall.
• A failure to properly fund education can sometimes lead to being found in contempt of court, as Washington lawmakers discovered.

edCircuit Analysis:

Education funding is a yearly battle that the federal government, states, districts and schools all have to go through. With a limited amount of resources, usually not enough resources to nearly everyone involved, lawmakers and administrator have to weigh the needs of teachers, parents and students to allocate education funds in a way that provides a basic education for all students.

The part that sometimes can be the trickiest is getting it right for all students. Students with special needs are often left behind when budget decisions are made. Just funding for students with Autism is a problem in many districts and state, and the shortfalls can lead to legal action.

The funding puzzle can be massive. In New York, lawmakers are wrangling to get their education projects funded as part of the budget, which last year was $25.8 billion.

Further Reading

1. BBC News – Heads complain of having to ask parents for school funds
2. KSHB – Kansas agencies seek $274 million in new funding next year
3. Vermont Biz – Explaining Vermont’s education funding system

More on Education Policy and Government