Education can be the great equalizer, but it isn’t yet
A level playing field for children will only come about if we pay for it
In a noble attempt to level the education playing field, in October a Maryland state panel, known as the Kirwan Commission, voted to recommend a new funding formula that calls for spending to increase by $4 billion per year by 2030. About a third of that increase, $1.2 billion, would come from local municipalities, with the state picking up the remaining $2.8 billion per year — 37 percent more than it currently spends. The increases would be phased in over the course of this decade. How to pay for this plan, which would certainly benefit low-income districts, will ultimately be determined by lawmakers during the 2020 legislative session.
There are many states that have passed new laws that mitigate large funding disparities between rich and poor districts, but, if fully funded, Maryland would become “the first in the country to prioritize equitable distribution of funds among school systems,” according to reporting from the radio station WAMU 88.5 FM.
The Kerwin Commission’s vote is a rare victory in the ongoing battle to disrupt an education financing system most of us accept as status quo. It’s a long time coming. There have been other efforts to create more equitable funding formulas, but resistance from local districts has largely resulted in small incremental changes that take years to kick in. Change at the state level could happen more quickly, if local school CONTINUE READING: Education financing has to change for education to be the 'great equalizer'
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