Who should pay for schools?

[LGM]

I am taking a class and have an assignmeent on who should pay for public schools. Should it be parents of school age children should it come from local taxes? Should people without cchildren have to pay? Just taking an informal survey.

Thanks

 

[EROS]

I feel that ALL residents of a town or city should contribute to financing of the school system. Sure, those with small children directly enjoy the benefits, but it's ALSO clear that quality schools ENHANCE property values for ALL. In Massachusetts, there is direct aid provided by the Commonwealth to school systems, but the majority of funding comes from local property taxes...... ...

 

[RNMOM]

I agree with Eros,

It is in the best interest of the community to have good schools. That said, we are having discussion, , in Ohio about funding fairness. I am inclined to think income taxes may be more fair and not tax elderly unless they have incomes above a certain level.

 

[DocRafiki]

everyone. local vs federal? don't know. but, having lived in 3 of the 4 "stupidest" states, i'm inclined to think those states would be better off if it were federal. of course, i don't know nuthin about it.

 

[Wagamama]

I agree with Eros...EVERYONE should pay, from local everyday residents to congressmen and women.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Parents of the kids attending the schools!

 

[Doctor P]

Since this is an academic exercise, I will give a little more detailed opinion. The societal value of an educated populace is high. However, there are also individual benefits to education. As one gets more and more education, the relative split in the value of the education typically shifts more and more to the individual themselves and away from general social benefit. Therefore, one can make the case that the public sector (government), society as a whole, should bear a significant portion of the cost of education at least at the primary school level (regardless of whether that education is provided by a public or private school), but individuals and families of those receiving the education should also contribute in exchange for the private value of that education.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

For those who feel only parents of school age children should pay for schools, then should only people who have fires support the fire department? My mom doesn't drive, I guess she shouldn't have to support roads. We are all in this together and I think taxes should support the schools.

 

[RoqueC]

Originally posted by EROS
I feel that ALL residents of a town or city should contribute to financing of the school system. Sure, those with small children directly enjoy the benefits, but it's ALSO clear that quality schools ENHANCE property values for ALL. In Massachusetts, there is direct aid provided by the Commonwealth to school systems, but the majority of funding comes from local property taxes...... ...

Very well said. Except, I think that the parents that have enrolled their children in the school, should pay a bit more, seeing as the other people aren't directly recieving a service. But other than that, I completely agree.

 

[ChiTownZee]

I think everyone should pay, because everyone benefits from our children having a good education. I don't mind that Joe Smiths 5 kids get more tax money for their education than my one, because one of Joe's kids might become the Doctor that treats me when I'm old, or a Congressman that helps pass a bill that helps my community, or even the President. I want these people educated, and I don't mind playing a part of that. The kids' future is my future too.

 

[Cindy B]

Now, when I lived in University Height OH, in the early-mid 90's my neighbors told me about this "perk".

There were many families of the town, which children went to private school, and not the local public elementary school.

My neighbor told me since there children went to private school, they could get a "tax break" on the local school tax, since the child did not go there.

Where as my child would have gone to the public school (he was only 2) the funding was horrible.. School Levys made the taxes go UP every year that we lived there.

This was a long time ago. Now if this "perk" is still there, I don't know.

My parents have a beef about this. The town in which they live has no police department (closed), no paid fire department (volunteers in their pickup/SUV's), some roads are still dirt/gravel, the library is only open two days a week, and the school is still using a 1920's building... and they still pay thousands of dollars for property tax. ( I want to say in the $3-4K range!)

 

[janette]

Everyone should pay but it needs to be on a state or large district level.

Texas fought a major battle in the courts when they were sued for school funding. Why they spent so much money fighting something instead of fixing it is another issue

Basically the schools are funded here by property taxes only. That ensures richer districts have better schools. Funding has never been a problem for the Highland Park district in Dallas, but for the border and rural schools the property taxes were a higher percentage and they still had less money for school funding.

Texas funding was found to be unconstitional (it took a supreme court ruling and lots of tax $ to figure that out) . The solution was not to change the funding to make it more even across the state. Instead they make the richer districts pay a portion of their funds to the poorer districts. Fondly referred to as the Robin Hood Plan.

If you need an example of how not to do school funding take a look at Texas. Plenty of examples here.

 

[GEM]

I definately agree with what some other people have said. Everyone should share the burden of paying for our schools. It definately benefits our society as a whole to have an educated population!

 

[caitycaity]

i agree with eros.

 

[Doctor P]

Here is the link to a book that some might find interesting that covers a lot of the issues about this topic:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=698V78G0ZS&isbn=081532572X