Reply to Janney PTA raised $1.4 million in one year

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Reply to "Janney PTA raised $1.4 million in one year"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
For example, Kojo asked her whether she thought the disparaties in PTA funding contributed to poor student performance.  She said yes they did because studies show that if more money was invested in poorly-performing schools, they would do better.  That wasn't the question.  No one doubts that many of these schools are underfunded.  But that doesn't necessarily mean that PTA funding of wealthier elementary schools hurts poor schools.  The question is also what are these PTAs funding in the first place.
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If wealthier parents couldn't prop up their schools by contributing to the PTA, don't you think that they might be more likely to agitate for improvement across the whole system? By allowing wealthier parents to do things to improve their situation, you lose their advocacy for improving the situation as a whole which is especially unfortunate because often it is the wealthier people who have the knowledge, time, and ability to successfully advocate for change.

By allowing the PTA funding, it increases the chances that there will be no more money invested in poorly performing schools, perpetuating the problems of underfunding.[/quote]

Maybe. But I'm also wondering why charters are getting a free pass in this discussion. Janney kids have won the life lottery, and charter kids have at least won the school lottery (and may also be relatively wealthy). I also wonder why private school families don't have a responsibility here, at least as far as families who go private because their local public schools are crappy. Beating up on certain DCPS PTAs and inanely calling them "rich families" is oversimplified, in my opinion. [/quote]

Most things are oversimplified, and public schools are often, unfortunately, in dire enough straights that oversimplification can still be a reasonable place to start. There are certainly other people who are benefiting by an unfair system, but that doesn't mean we should perpetuate an unfair system we have identified. If the public education available to Janney children without PTA augmentation is unacceptable, then it's unacceptable for all the DCPS children. For a PTA to make their school a quasi-private by using the public education foundation and then adding extras, but not to try to bring public education up to a reasonable level for all, is a problem. 
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