Policy makers play a critical role in a student’s education. Some of the policies include class sizes, school size, school choice, tracking, privatization, teacher pay, teacher education, graduation, school infrastructure, school funding, and school values to name a few.
How many of these decision makers do you think come from low income schools?
George W. Bush’s childhood home
Former U.S. President George W. Bush’s upbringing was split up from a few suburbs in Texas, Odessa, Midland, and then Houston.
The ‘No Child left behind’ educational law which he passed, was set with high expectations and brought upon the high stakes testing for all schools including those with Title 1, or federal funding for disadvantaged students. Most of these students come from low income families, including foster homes, and homes receiving government assistance. Furthermore, as a result of ‘NCLB’, schools that weren’t making annual yearly progress would lose funding, and would face corrective action.
This change did not have a viable effect on impoverished neighborhoods, but added more stress to school’s trying to close the achievement gap with limited resources, and states applying for waivers due to being penalized, as the ‘NCLB’ act was supposed to have been successfully completed in 2014.
Another more recent example, current New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, attended Squiretown Elementary, a small school located in Livingston, a township of Essex County. The median family household income is $133,271. His latest proposal, provided by the New York Teacher, a publication from the United Federation of teachers, states that he is proposing a one size fits all model where $6,599 would be designated for each student no matter where the school was located. In perspective, Newark students coming from an impoverished area would be receiving 69% less funding, while students in Summit, a thriving suburb area will be receiving more than a 1500% increase.
Do you think a student who went to school in Newark, or from any impoverished neighborhood throughout the country should be receiving the same funding as a family with a median household income of over $100,000? I taught 8 years in a NYC public school in Hunts Point, located in the South Bronx. It’s very sad to see what these kids don’t have, and now we have government officials who want to take the only thing that can change these kids’ lives, and lower their chances for success away.
‘Educators in low income schools need to teach more about politics, so these students can become political leaders, and use their life experience to change future generations.’
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