Last weekend my wife and I were “invited” to attend a fund raiser for a local elementary (K-6) public school. It just happens that this school is where all of our grandchildren attended, as some still do. It is kind of difficult to turn down such an offer.
The purpose of the fundraiser was not to provide money for the “normal” costs of schooling (teachers, buildings, maintenance, etc), but rather to provide funding for “extras” that the children enjoy. I am not sure what the “extras” consist of, but I suspect it is things like art supplies, musical instruments, perhaps some field trips – you know, just some fun things for the kids. We all know that these things are intended to be “fun” – they are intended to enrich the education of the kids.
This school is an interesting one because it is located out in “the country”, away from any towns or population centers. It is surrounded by thousands of acres of farm land – some of the most productive farm land in the world. It is a very old school by California standards, having been started in 1861 (just twelve years after the beginning of the ’49ers gold rush in California. The current school buildings appear to have been built in the 1950’s as part of the rapid ramp up in schools required to accommodate the flood of baby boomers. It is in the iconic California style of almost flat roofs, walls of glass, few or no indoor corridors, access to the school rooms is from wide covered walkways. It is not possible to attend school there without a lot of exposure to “the outside.” The school is old, but appears to be well maintained and is fully functional.
One of the great features of this school is that it is highly integrated, being about 40% white, 40% Hispanic and the rest a mix. It looks like it fairly represents the mix of the community. It also has a nice mix of kids from a range of economic backgrounds. Just from looking, with no data to support this opinion, it appears to be mainly made up of a mix of farm workers and farm owners.
The fund raiser was clearly not composed of a representative mix, it was heavily skewed toward the upper income brackets – enforced by costs that were probably pretty much out reach for many of the parents and grandparents. It ended up feeling like a social mixer of the landed and well-to-do. Because it was for an elementary school most of the parents were what I now call “young” and probably not even fully aware of their future legacy. The are making do, living modest lives, taking care of their kids – but they have support, and they will soon be handed “the reins of power” in the community.
As an interested observer, I couldn’t help but notice that this event was creating the “good old boys” that eventually make the decisions and make the money. I fantasized about how much wealth was concentrated in that room, and came up with billions, not just millions. Billions because a few were children of families that own and farm huge farms in the middle of California. I don’t know how much this land is worth, but it is a LOT! That doesn’t necessarily mean they can spend it, they are “land poor” like most farmers, but it sure helps.
The fund raiser required purchasing tickets, sold drinks once inside, and included a “raffle” of things that had been donated. Pies, cakes, ice chests – that sort of thing. About 150 people were in attendance in a really neat old barn on one of the biggest farms in the area. It felt very “special” to me, and I suspect to others as well. The rumors that I heard indicate that they made something like $45,000 from the fund raiser. Not bad from a crowd of 150!
That has caused me to really wonder about these kinds of events from a Society point of view. I assume they decided to do this because they believe the school is underfunded and thus unable to purchase the “extras” required to create a fulfilling education. That implies that ALL schools are similarly underfunded. The State (and perhaps voters) have decided to provide the absolute minimum funding to schools necessary to meet the legal requirements. Schools in poorer areas have to live with that, they don’t have the necessary resources required to “extend” the offerings. Schools in more well-to-do areas get significant extra help from things such as this fund raiser. In addition to that, the amount of taxes raised for a school district is based upon local property taxes, and those are based upon the value of the homes and businesses in the area. More expensive homes result in higher taxes, that result in more income per student.
It seems reasonable to assume that all of this means that “equality” in schools just plain doesn’t happen. Even if the State provides equal funding per student, and even if they were to mandate limits from local property taxes, there will always be very large funding differences because things like fundraisers and private donations. I don’t think teachers benefit directly from this because I think their income is based upon State standards, but what happens in the schools must certainly reflect this extra, private, funding.
It seems to me that all schools “private or public” should be held to the same funding standards, including the effects of fundraisers and whatnot. All schools should be adequately funded, through taxes, to have all that is required to provide a good quality education. There shouldn’t be spots of excellence because of extra funding. If we are ever to get out of many of the problems facing society today, it has to start with high quality education for all.
As a rather radical idea, I think all private donations and fund raisers should be banned. There should be no ‘outside’ source for money for the schools. It should all be equal, all be fair, and all be enough to provide a high quality education – including paying teachers enough to make the job attractive from a job point of view, not just attractive to those that are willing to sacrifice because they have a calling.