How are Schools Governed, Influenced, and Financed

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How are Schools Governed, Influenced, and
Financed?

• Chapter 11

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Who legally governs public education?

• Responsibility for public schools is a state
  function-Tenth Amendment to the constitution
• State versus local control
• Governors play leadership role

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Organizational Structure of a typical state
school system
State Constitution
State Legislature
Governor
State Courts
State Board of Education
State Superintendent (Chief State School Officer)
State Department of Education
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Organizational Structure-continued
Local School Districts
Local Superintendents
Local School Principals
Teachers
Students
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Mark Twain

• In the first place, God made idiots.
• That was for practice.
• Then he made school boards.

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School Boards

• School boards lack diversity
• Elected by popular vote-96 of states
• 4 of school boards are appointed by mayor of
  city council
• Majority are male, white, between ages 41 and 60
• Demographic characteristics have changed little

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School Boards

• Proportion of women has increased
• 12 to 39 increase since 1972
• Representation of minorities is small
• 83 have incomes over 50,000
• 66 have bachelors degrees
• Most are professionals, managers, business owners
• Conservative

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Atypical aspects of school boards

• Not typical of the public they serve
• Influences on values and decisions
• Can you think of any ways in which this atypical
  aspect might influence their values and decisions?

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Who Influences American Public Education

• Professional Education Organizations
• Site based decision making
• Parents
• PTA
• PTO
• Business

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Neil Postman

• The classroom is a place in which the claims of
  various political, social, and economic interests
  are negotiated. The classroom is both a symbol
  and a product of deadly serious cultural
  bargaining.

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High Stakes Standardized Testing

• NCLB-the 2001 reauthorization required states to
  test students each year between grades 3 and 8
  and once in high school if they wish to receive
  federal funds.
• 45 states require teachers to pass a
  state-prescribed, test before entering a teacher
  education program and before being licensed to
  teach

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How are schools financed?

• Locally raised revenues
• State aid
• Federal aid
• Miscellaneous revenues

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School Spending

• Nationwide average 8,554 per pupil
• District of Columbia is 15,073 per pupil
• Utah is 5,245 per pupil
• http//www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/21/33670978.xls

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School Finance Reform and the Courts

• Serrano v. Priest
• Rodriguez case
• Unequal funding
• Equality as state concern
• Pressures for equality

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Federal Funding

• Categorical grants
• Block grants
• NCLB

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NCLB Act Key Provisions

• Annual testing
• Academic improvement
• Teacher and Paraprofessional qualifications
• Concerns about NCLB
• Students at risk
• Special Education
• State standards lack uniformity

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Compensatory Education

• An approach to creating more equal educational
  opportunities for disadvantaged children
• Title I
• 1. deliver federal funds to local school
  districts and schools for education of students
  from low-income families
• 2. supplement educational services provided
  to low-achieving students

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Compensatory Education-cont.

• Preventive approaches-Head Start
• Basic skill instruction
• Tutoring
• Remediation in academic areas
• Drop out programs
• Job training
• Adult literacy instruction
• Success for All program-http//www.successforall.c
  om/about/sfabrochure.pdf

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Web Resources

• http//www.ed.gov
• http//www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb
• http//www.nea.org
• http//www.ecs.org

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