Public Education Funding Policies

Public education policy is an interesting issue to study because it is something that deeply affects virtually all voters, taxpayers, and citizens.  While the implications of a spending cut in other government programs, such as food stamps or fuel assistance, are felt only by a specific segment of the population, cuts in public education spending is felt by most middle class families. 

However, there is also a great diversity in opinions on the best way to spend education funds in order to best benefit the greatest amount of students.  After reading this Sunday’s Burlington Free Press, I began to think a little bit more about the issue.  On the front page of the paper was the story, “Are Burlington Schools on the Right Track?” This article detailed reader reactions to last week’s criticism of the Burlington school system by Burlington school board candidate, and former BHS guidance counselor, Ed Scott (link provided below).  One of Scott’s main criticisms is that BHS does too much to separate students into different academic tracks starting in middle school, and that student’s would benefit to being in classes with others of varying abilities.  He also believes that some of the AP classes with low enrolment should be eliminated in order to save money. 

While I can certainly see the benefits of learning with student’s of varying abilities, I believe that this sounds much better in theory than in practice.  At the high school level, there is a great degree of diversity between the abilities of students.   I believe that it would be unfair to students on both ends of the spectrum for them to either be struggling in classes that are far too difficult for them, or to be bored in classes that are much too easy.  Also, as an AP student in high school, I credit the program with helping me ease the transition into college level work.  It makes me very uncomfortable to think that high achieving students will have opportunities taken away from them because there are so few of them in a specific area.  However, with the current state of the economy, and the fact that budget cuts are hitting virtually every area of government, these types of ideas should hardly come as a surprise.  My only hope is that school officials take into consideration the needs of all students, and that high performing students are not excessively affected by budget cuts.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110123/NEWS02/110122015/Are-Burlington-schools-on-the-right-track