Public Education!

In California universities class sizes have grown and overall tuition has increased. Many universities are no longer offering programs that they once did. California's public universities have always been known has highly regarded institutions. But after so many budget cuts this great reputation is somewhat at stake. A professor said, "I'd be lying if I said that what we offer students hasn't changed and that there hasn't been a degradation of the learning environment." Some think the cuts are not a bad thing and that the cuts are necessary. They believe that is will help make the changes that are needed to be made. 

Since 2008 in K-12 public schools the funding per student has dropped by nearly 5 percent. It went from $8,235 per student to $7,693 per student. If Governor Brown cuts the budget even more, this number will go down even more. It would drop by 10 percent over the course of four years. According to a study, 30 percent of students attend a school that is considered to be "financially troubled." And 74 percent of principals reported a huge growth in class sizes since 2007. These schools that are not receiving the money they need, cannot provide quality educations for the kids, who in many ways, may need it the most. 

jfried

Governor Jerry Brown signed $6 billion in education cuts that will go into effect. These changes will create shorter school years, less money for police and cost increases in the UCs and CSU systems. Lawmakers shared the fact that this cut will mostly affect California's public schools and universities. Education accounts for about half of California's spending. This will affect the 6 million children who attend California schools. Brown said, "Our state budget was built up over a decade, and it won't be fixed overnight. These temporary increases will ensure funding for our schools until the economy improves. 

jfried

This spreadsheet shows many statistics about many different areas surrounding problems in education. It very clearly brings to attention many issues that need to be dealt with in various ways. It shows high school dropout rates as well as differences in budgets. It shows that in some states the money is not equally distributed within districts. A poorer community or a school in a city will most likely receive less money than a public school in a small, rural area. This relates directly to the differences in public schools in San Francisco and public schools in Marin.

This video discusses the programs that will be lost because of budget cuts in a specific school. This school will lose many of their sports programs, music programs, less foreign language programs, and many teacher laid off. The reporter talks about how class sizes will increase as well. The superintendent at the Board of Education talks about trying to decide what to keep and what not to keep.  

The following is video of parents and teachers in Los Angeles protesting the huge budget cuts in public education. The parents came together as one to create a powerful voice towards change. Many kids had to stay behind in school, which caused them to be very behind. These kids were not at the appropriate reading levels for their ages. One mother said that she was "outraged" and felt that she needed to "do something."

jamie

I last posted stats on the importance of housing in the United States. I am always surprised when I read about issues, and how their effects on completely different and seemingly unrelated aspects of living. In this particular case, I find it compelling that home-owning in general has very positive effects on the children who live in these homes, as well as the communities around them. The stats provided by habitat for humanity offers a unique perspective on the housing crisis in the United States, because it sheds light on a little known issue, and its correlation to other prominent issues in the U.S. I don’t understand why we don’t do more to improve affordable housing in the U.S. if there is Statistical proof that it is so crucial to a healthy life. 

The general trend in the U.S. is as follows: As rent increases, nationwide, wages stagnate, nationwide. No where in the United States, do state and city governments make low income housing projects and public schools a priority. The lack of resources and funding for public schools in crime-ridden, and impoverished neighborhoods makes it exceedingly difficult for those who want to escape poverty, through education. The cyclical nature of this system is what drives poverty and the lack of education in poor neighborhoods.  

Crime comes with low-income housing. Period. End of story. Densely populated low-income housing projects in poor neighborhoods, struggle immensely to keep crime out of said living environments. Poor, and high density housing developments, promote crime, and more specifically, violent crime. For many, permanently leaving the poor neighborhood, or low income housing project in which one grew up, is exceedingly difficult. The lack of quality education and positive programs as well prevalence of drug use, and gang violence makes leaving these poor housing developments and neighborhoods an uphill battle. It’s tough for me to read about this, because I feel that I have come from a warm, loving, strongly middle class family, that values education. I have had a strong support system behind me, throughout my entire life. It’s painful to hear that huge populations in our country and city, lack even the essentials required to attend school each day. I want to know how exactly it is that education lowers crime rates, and how it can be possible to bring quality programs and educational structures into impoverished neighborhoods. 

Homeowners are more likely to know their U.S. representative (by 10 percent) and school board head by name (by 9 percent), and are more likely to vote in local elections (by 15 percent) and work to solve local problems (by 6 percent). (DiPasquale and Glaeser: 1998)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development controls “affordable housing” and “low-income housing developments in the U.S. The HUD states that U.S. citizens who may 30 percent or more of their income for housing are considered cost-burdened. This means that along with paying for housing, these people must pay for necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. The lack of affordable housing is a serious hardship for many Americans. As of late, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has tried to make affordable housing more accessible to those who need it, with various programs such as: SHOP, and the Home Program. I will explain these projects in detail, in my next post. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, private school students score higher on standardized tests and college entrance exams and are significantly more likely to go to college than students in public schools. In that sense, they are much better than public schools. According to knoxnews.com however, one thing they lack is diversity. Knoxnews.come reports that "in 2004, 76.5 percent of private school students were white, compared with just 57.4 percent of public school students." They say that while "minority achievement is higher overall in private schools than in public schools," according to the 2003 Nation's Report Card, "there is still a gap between white and minority achievement levels."

Although I could not find a graph to represent California, the graph above illustrates an obvious trend that is found throughout the United States - private schools spend more per student than public schools. As shown in the graph, the average private school in Massachusetts pays just under 35,000 dollars per year per pupil expenditures, when including capital costs. This is around 20,000 more than public schools who are shown to have payed just under 15,000. Ultimately, the ability to use more money on a student allows the school to better educate the student by fitting their needs. This is where the comic fits in. Private education is represented by the clothing rack full of options and different sized clothes while public education is represented by the clothing rack on the right. It has a single shirt, with the words "one size fits all" written on it.