Well, I cannot claim to have knowledge of public school funding in Texas, but
the poster's comments certainly don't apply to Michigan's public schools. Our
schools are funded by a per pupil mechanism that is financed by a combination
of state property, sales and sin (cigarette) taxes with sales tax making up the
lion's share.
It works like this:
Higher # of students and larger budget
Smaller # of students and a smaller budget
Now this funding formula doesn't take into consideration the fact as population
fluctuates so does your budget BUT the schools are still expected to carry the
same number of programs and provide the same services with less money. Conversely,
a dramatic influx of students isn't necessarily a good thing either because
money doesn't flow directly at once into the district with the student, but
rather is spread out over the year in smaller amounts. This forces a school
district to provide programs and services to a larger # of kids without the
immediate resources needed to provide the extra teachers, supplies and infrastructure
to support these new kids. In addition, student counts are done only 2 times
a year in September and February, so if a district has an increase in its population
after either count date it wont even receive the first scheduled increase for
months.
So as you can see, Michigan school districts cannot manipulate their budgets
as it was suggested that some in other states do.
Concerning the iBooks, technology give aways by the state to the
local districts are well meaning, however who will pick up the costs of maintenance,
upgrades, replacements, fixes, etc.? If the technology becomes central to the
curriculum then it ceases to be a nice to have and must be functionally
available for students both during and after school hours. Sometimes a free
gift can wind up costing at lot of bucks.
No, I am not a teacher but I did serve on an elected school board for 8 years
and have dealt with this issue before.
Slashdot Mirror
It works like this:
Higher # of students and larger budget
Smaller # of students and a smaller budget
Now this funding formula doesn't take into consideration the fact as population fluctuates so does your budget BUT the schools are still expected to carry the same number of programs and provide the same services with less money. Conversely, a dramatic influx of students isn't necessarily a good thing either because money doesn't flow directly at once into the district with the student, but rather is spread out over the year in smaller amounts. This forces a school district to provide programs and services to a larger # of kids without the immediate resources needed to provide the extra teachers, supplies and infrastructure to support these new kids. In addition, student counts are done only 2 times a year in September and February, so if a district has an increase in its population after either count date it wont even receive the first scheduled increase for months.
So as you can see, Michigan school districts cannot manipulate their budgets as it was suggested that some in other states do.
Concerning the iBooks, technology give aways by the state to the local districts are well meaning, however who will pick up the costs of maintenance, upgrades, replacements, fixes, etc.? If the technology becomes central to the curriculum then it ceases to be a nice to have and must be functionally available for students both during and after school hours. Sometimes a free gift can wind up costing at lot of bucks.
No, I am not a teacher but I did serve on an elected school board for 8 years and have dealt with this issue before.