Change Your World Week Winter 2021 (Archived)

Schools today are changing, they are taking on more students, and running many more classes. The budget that schools are given is miniscule compared to their actual needs and with every new challenge they encounter, their once small budget is becoming increasingly smaller. In Michigan, only 25% of funding is determined by the size of the school. The other 75% is determined by performance and location. Performance of the school is decided by the scores on standardized tests such as the “Meap,” and location is important because a portion of state property tax is used in the funding of schools. If a school has low standardized test scores, then the amount of money they receive every year is reduced. If the school is in an area of low property value, then the property taxes collected in that area will be lower, and therefore the amount of money given to schools from those taxes will also be lower. Now if you live in a nice area with high property value and the schools in your area perform well, then you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, this means that if a school has low test scores and is in a lower valued area then the schools will be severely under founded. This means that along with the schools, the students are suffering as well. When a school is low on funds, they must cut out extracurricular programs as to save money so that the core classes can continue to have enough resources to function. Without extracurriculars, the students are missing crucial experiences that could potentially change their lives forever! Never should money be out before people, but in our public schools that is exactly what is happening. 

The government action that I believe would best fix this issue would be to completely stop funding schools based on standardized test scores and location. There should be a set amount of money that each school receives in funding every school year, and then that amount should be increased based on the number of students that the school has and any special needs that the students may have. I also think that families under a certain economic threshold should be given a stipend check at the beginning of every semester as to offset and help with the increasing amounts and costs of the school supplies required by students. If our state governments took these steps in the right direction, then I believe that the economic disparity ravaging our school districts would cease to exist. 

When analyzing the issue of funding for public schools you notice that every single person has something at stake. Everyone should be interested in this issue because it is not just about money, it is about the quality of education that the children of this state are receiving. If we allow our public schools to be constantly underfunded then we are setting up future generations for failure. When we allow some school districts more funding then others just because of better test scores or a wealthier location then we are in return telling the students on the opposite end that they are not good enough for a proper education. Everyone deserves to have a good education, no matter where you live or how well you score on a test. We the people are the voice of change, and when we want to make a change, nothing will stop us. Some important people that are crucial in enacting a change like this would be our Michigan state senators, and the Michigan Board of Education. I will provide ways to contact these people and organization. 

Senator Gary Peters contact information.

Senator Debbie Stabenow contact information.

Senator Jim Stamas contact information.

Michigan Department of Education contact information.

When lawmakers discuss the issue of whether or not to increase or decrease the funding of public schools the issue is split right down the middle. Republican politicians typically believe that public schools already receive enough funding. Some even want to decrease the amount that they already receive and redirect some of those funds to other public infrastructure projects such as road maintenance or public works. A Democratic politician would view the issue a little differently. They would argue that the amount of money that a lower income school district receives as opposed to a higher income school district is completely disproportionate. They would want a redistribution of resources between all the school districts as to even them out. They would then want an increase in school funding across the board. 

Ways that you could take action would include campaigning your local politicians relentlessly. We want them to hear and understand our issues so that they can better work to fix them. I would also recommend writing letters to local news outlets so that our issue will be heard all over the state. If you feel as passionately about this issue as I do consider signing a petition to help! I have linked the petition that I created below. 

Click here to sign my petition!