The Influence of Race in School Finance Reform

Ryan, James E.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.170009

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Attempting to gain more funding for African American students from the state is problematic as Ryan (1999) found. His study indicated that poor districts with predominately minorities residing therein, fail to convince lawmakers and even the courts for greater financial resources.…”

Section: More Funding Neededmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discrimination in Education Financing

Loubert¹

2004

The Review of Black Political Economy

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Discrimination in education funding for African Americans can be seen as a vicious circle that ultimately keeps needed funds from those who might need it the most. The historical period of slavery in this country marks the beginning of the cycle because it was during this period that African Americans were denied the right to education. It could be argued there is an unconscious thread that continues to perpetrate/penetrate people's belief system, such that as a society, policies are made that deny/prevent equal education and funding for black students (Berry and Blassingame, 1982). Today, the evidence of discrimination can be seen in the contrast of run-down, rodent and insect infested school buildings provided for poor black inner city students to the clean, modern buildings provided for white suburban students. It can be found in the contrast of tenure of teachers for each group, or even the amount of money a district provides to the school for books, playgrounds, and/or academic programs. Beyond these points, however, there remains a myriad of political, social, and economic reasons that maintain education discrimination in our society.School finance reforms and/or state-based funding formulas have not provided sufficient funds for many children who are systematically kept in the lower echelons of labor and schooling. Much of the literature on school finance reform simply examines the lack and/or the acquisition of funding education. This essay considers the need to end discrimination by not only presenting an analysis of current and past scholars' rhetoric on discrimination for African Americans, but also by showing how the policy arena has failed to do what the laws were intending to do. Thereby, we can capture an understanding of how a populace within a nation that considers education as its number one priority (Broder, 2002), continues to suffer from discrimination in its funding and program administration of education. Utilizing the framework of political economy, we can understand how discrimination in school finance becomes a test of this society to resolve the racism and the class bias that exists, and why the capture of appropriate funds to those who deserve them is essential. As an initial step towards repairing the damage of slavery on the education patterns 03_Loubert_7133_Trans 12/7

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Section: More Funding Neededmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discrimination in Education Financing

Loubert¹

2004

The Review of Black Political Economy

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“…Where racial segregation exists, opportunities and life chances for individuals in the racial/ ethnic groups involved tend to be fundamentally unequal (Kozol, 1991(Kozol, , 2006Gaskin et al, 2012). The tradition of local control of public education in the United States entails that schools located in predominantly white and often affluent neighborhoods tend to have greater and higher quality resources than those located in predominantly minority neighborhoods (Kozol, 1991(Kozol, , 2006(Kozol, , 2012Ryan, 1999). More white and affluent communities have a higher tax base, and this enables them to afford better funding for schools, which can be seen in up-to-date textbooks, better paid teachers, smaller class sizes, and an overall physical environment that fosters learning (Kozol, 2006(Kozol, , 2012Ryan, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tradition of local control of public education in the United States entails that schools located in predominantly white and often affluent neighborhoods tend to have greater and higher quality resources than those located in predominantly minority neighborhoods (Kozol, 1991(Kozol, , 2006(Kozol, , 2012Ryan, 1999). More white and affluent communities have a higher tax base, and this enables them to afford better funding for schools, which can be seen in up-to-date textbooks, better paid teachers, smaller class sizes, and an overall physical environment that fosters learning (Kozol, 2006(Kozol, , 2012Ryan, 1999). Schools in less affluent neighborhoods, on the other hand, tend to have out-of-date textbooks, less paid teachers, beginning and less prepared teachers, larger class sizes, crumbling infrastructure, and low teacher expectations (Gregory et al, 2010;Hanushek & Rivkin, 2009;Kozol, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Laptop Use and Scores on Standardized Tests

Kposowa

Valdez

2013

Journal of Educational Computing Research

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Objectives:The primary objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between ubiquitous laptop use and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that students with ubiquitous laptops would score on average higher on standardized tests than those without such computers. Methods: Data were obtained from two sources. First, demographic and computer usage information was obtained through face-to-face interviews of 4th and 5th grade students enrolled in an ethnically diverse elementary school in Southern California. Student achievement and related data were obtained from existing school records. An unmatched case-control group design was implemented. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate techniques were performed on the data. Results: Overall English/Language Arts and Mathematics scores for the entire sample were 359 and 396 respectively in 2008. Students who were given 24/7 laptop computers, however, had higher scores in English/Language Arts (M = 392.7, SD = 34.98) than students without laptops (M = 338.54, SD = 39.69). In Mathematics, students with laptops had a mean of 448.1 (M = 448.1, SD = 56.83), whereas those without laptops had an average of 365.05 (M = 365.05, SD = 52.64). Independent sample t-tests showed that these differences between cases and controls were statistically significant. Conclusions: Results showed that, in general, ubiquitous laptop computers improve student performance in English Language/Arts, Mathematics, and Science. These findings contradict other studies that have shown that 24/7 laptops have no effect on student achievement. It is suggested that policy makers continue judicious use of technology in the education curriculum.

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