Reply to DCPS is misusing at-risk funds

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "DCPS is misusing at-risk funds"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]Wealthy schools receive often less than 1/2 the funding per student than poorer schools. So, if they want to do away with PTA funding, they are going to need to make up those differences to some extent. [/b]

Also, let's keep in mind that while the dollar figures are high, most schools (Mann being the exception) are only paying for 1-2 teachers or a handful of aides across the whole school. While it's nice, it is not like they have a significant number of extra, trained teachers.[/quote]

If PTA funding is just to "make up for" what other schools are getting, then why do the wealthy schools have so much extra nice stuff that the poor schools don't?  [/quote]

I'd appreciate a more informed discussion on this subject. [b]My guess is that PTA fundraising does not go for extravagent extras[/b]. The problem is more that the high risk schools have *higher* needs than even the PTA funding could meet. And for gentrifying schools, the PTA money substantively helps the whole school. [/quote]

Have you ever been to the WOTP schools? Go to Lafayette, then visit almost any poorer school. Amazing. The digital sign alone...

No - the obvious answer is that in one school district, at least some portion of the PTA fundraising should be mandated to go to all the schools or to needier schools. I've never seen one district where parents can just kind of pay to make their school, and only their school, more like a private. It's nuts. No, PTAs should not be able to pay salaries nor should they need to, taxes are high enough and so is per student spending. Most other places have to raise taxes in order to pay for improvements for the schools, resulting in a more equitable district. [/quote]

Exactly.  Go on, wealthy school parents-- what is it that you envy at our Title I EOTP?  Is it our behavior specialist?  Our extra half a psychologist?  Our social workers who are constantly getting screamed at by mentally ill parents?  Maybe our behavior techs, who get paid crap money to deal with freaking-out kids all day long?  I could give you a long list of things I envy about your school, but I'd like to hear your list first.[/quote]

Who is envious here?  The WOTP people generally think the EOTP Title 1 schools are suboptimal, which is why we pay more than we can afford for crappy housing and donate more than we can afford to school to be at a different school (and generally give time and votes in hopes of better educational policies.)

And I don’t think Lafayette facilities have anything nothing on Dunbar, Ballou, etc.

Meanwhile, insist on taking a portion of what the half dozen ‘rich’ PTAs raise and spread it across the other hundred DCPS elementaries. Each school would get another $4000 or $5000 to spend — half a student worth of funding.  That accomplishes nothing.  Equalize the DCPS per-pupil funding and budgets are going backwards.

It solves nothing to be envious of the few thriving PRAs, anymore than it makes sense to be envious of all those families that can afford private schools unaffordable to those of us posting here.

Income inequality is a national problem that the jokers in Congress could have addressed long ago, but they chose to exacerbate it instead.  Complaining about PTA fundraisers is a poor substitute for their national failures.[/quote]

It's the person up-thread who thinks wealthy PTA funding goes to make up the difference in per-pupil funding.  At-risk funding goes to cover the extra cost of educating at-risk kids.  I don't at all believe that wealthy schools receive half the per-pupil funding, but even if they did, that seems about right.  At-risk kids can be extremely expensive to educate.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics