The Glimmer-Aiken Act plays a vital part of the school system because it reduced the number of school districts, set a minimum number of school days and was able to raise teacher salaries. This act changed the way public schools were funded because they used local tax money to fund public schools. Their formula break-down was 80% funded by the state and 20% funded by local taxes. This act was revolutionary because it was the first structured finance system in the State of Texas.
The next part of school finance that I found intriguing was Edgewood vs. Kirby. On May 23, 1984, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit against the Commissioner of Education, William Kirby. This suit was filed due to discrimination against students in poor districts. This lawsuit began with eight districts originally but sixty-seven other districts decided to join in on the suit. The main debate in this suit was over the inequality of local taxes across different school districts. Some districts are very wealthy and others are not, which is where the inequality occurs. One of the poorest districts, Edgewood ISD, had $38, 854 in property wealth per student and other districts had $570,109 in property wealth per student which was in Alamo Heights ISD. This plan led to the next important part of school finance which was the Robin Hood Plan in 1993.
The Robin Hood Plan in 1993 was another important and interesting plan in school finance. This plan took funding from wealthier districts and gave it to districts that did not have as much revenue from taxes and such. This plan was mean to level the funding across all districts and schools to make it equal. This is a major turning point in school finance because many of the poorer schools were not able to have the computers, lower student/teacher ratios and extra resources available for improving education. This plan capped the money per student so districts were more equal in funding.
I chose these three events because the caught my attention and made me realize the importance of creating fair and equal opportunities for all students. If we think about students not having as much and living in poorer areas, there would not be as much money as other districts. On the other hand, I can see the other side because if a person chooses to live in an area due to the school system, then if they are paying more to live there, they expect to have a better school for their children. I can see both opinions on this case and see why these plans were put into place. I think these events are critical in understanding how schools receive their funding and why. Reflection:
I have learned many different things about school finance during week 1 of School Finance. From listening to the Professor’s lecture and researching these events, I have learned how each event plays a role in creating our educational system. Posting three important events helped me understand how they played an important role in funding for schools and equality across different districts. I can see how trying to level the funding across districts is fair, but also can hurt schools in wealthier districts because they have been accustomed to having an abundance of money and now they must reduce costs due to the reduction in their per student funding. I chose the three events because they intrigued me and allowed me to understand the history of leveling the funding across districts and realizing how some of the poorer districts are able to fund some of their activities and resources due to the values in their property taxes and what they bring in. This has made me realize that the state has tried to set funding on a basis to reach all students and create a learning environment for all students that is equal no matter where they live or how much they pay in taxes.
