the necessity of well-funded public schools

[bobbieinok]

I learned in public school (I'm 60+, ie terribly brainwashed by 'not christian enough' public education) that education is a right for all American children, that a well-educated electorate is necessary in a democracy (wasn't this Jefferson's idea?), and that education should be available to all children poor as well as rich (this means being well-supported by taxes).

I can remember my mother periodically 'blowing up' b/c people would say during votes for school taxation 'I shouldn't have to pay school taxes b/c I have no children or b/c my children are in private schools (at that time, usually parochial schools) that I have to pay for'.

We learned that Horace Mann was the one who convinced Americans that all children had a right to education.

One source on HMann

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee501/mann.html

Just part of the article

....

e. Extended His Influence Beyond Massachusetts. Horace Mann edited the "Common School Journal" and wrote twelve Annual Reports which became famous. Some important Annual Reports were;


(1) Fifth Annual Report (1841). Mann argued successfully that economic wealth would increase through an educated public. It was therefore in the selfinterest of business to pay the taxation for public education.

(2) Seventh Annual Report (1843). Horace Mann inspected and appraised favorably the Prussian school system. This report led to widespread improvement .of education through the educational theories of Pestalozzi, Herbart and eventually Froebel.

(3) Tenth Annual Report (1846). Mann asserted that education was a natural right for every child. It is a necessary responsibility of the State to insure that education was provided for every child. This report led to the adoption of the first State law requiring compulsory attendance in school in 1852.

(4) Twelfth Annual Report (1848). He presented a rationale for the support of public education through taxation. Society improves as a result of an educated public. He argued for non-sectarian schools, so the taxpayer would not be in the position of supporting any established religion with which he might disagree in conscience.

more....

[phylny]

1. Thanks for this. I'm a product of public schools, as is my husband

and my children. I've worked in public schools as well. I'm a strong advocate for a public education, and we've been fortunate enough to have lived in four states in areas with superb public schools. My children have a combined 31 years of public schooling and we have never had a problem with a teacher in all those years.

A great big thanks to all the men and women who taught (and continue to teach) my children!

[Virginian]

2. The better the education, the better the job.

The better the job, the higher the pay,
the higher the pay, the higher the tax base,
the higher the tax base the better able to pay for my social security.

That is one of my selfish reasons to pay school taxes.
Here is another:

Paying taxes that support public schools is repaying the money you owe for your public education. If you didn't take advantage of it, that's a luxury you could afford, but it was always there waiting for you in case you needed it.

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. If society would become more civilized if I paid more taxes, I would pay more taxes.

[China_cat]

3. It doesn't matter if you don't have kids in public school

or if you send your kids to private school. If you buy groceries that are stocked, inventoried and checked out by people; if you buy books, magazines or other printed matter that are written, edited, pasted up and printed by people; if you make use of public transportation that is human directed; if you ever have to deal with doctors, nurses, and aids; if you ever walk into a building that is staffed and maintained by people;

You ARE using the public school system. That's why it needs to be fully funded.

[countingbluecars]

4. Thanks for this post.

It's nice to read a post in support of public education for a change.

[bobbieinok]

5. thanks.....growing up all I ever heard at home+school was how important

it is to the well-being of our society that every child have a free public education.......that your right to education DOES NOT depend upon how much money you/your family has

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Thank you - there are several DUers who need to read this

The public school bashing here is so disappointing.

A community is only as strong as its public schools.

[Virginian]

7. I live in a county with one of the best public school systems

in the nation. Unfortunately, I didn't have any kids and can't take advantage of it.
I still want my public school system to excel. I don't want to pay for vouchers to take money away from this school system. I want all of my tax money to stay in the public schools.
If someone wants to send their kids to private school, they are just choosing something different, they can't find anything better because no private school in the area can offer better qualified teachers along with the variety of subjects offered in our system.

No, I am not affiliated with the school system.
I wish I had lived here when I was in school.

[Yupster]

8. But what's a well-funded school?

Some district's fund $ 10,000 per kid or more and provide a crappy education. Others fund $7,000 and provide an excellent education.

Are you sure it's the funding that's the part that should be in the headline?

[LizW]

9. There's no one number, obviously.

People seem to think that school funding should be one size fits all. It's just like everything else, the price varies according to where you are and what children you are trying to educate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Some kids cost more to educate than others

Take two 5 year olds. One of them has been read to every day since he was in the womb and has been to the zoo dozens of times. He has two parents and they have made spending time with their young son a priority since he was born. The other one is being raised by a single parent who doesn't speak English and works for minimum wage to keep a roof over her kid's head. She doesn't have time and can't afford to take her son to the zoo.

Which one is more ready for kindergarten? Which one will learn to read easily? The kindergarten teacher is teaching a unit on animals. Which kid already knows quite a bit about animals? Which one needs to go to the zoo and actually see some animals in order to understand what is being taught in the classroom?

Which one is going to need more resources to learn?

Some kids are more expensive to educate than others.