The Role of State Governments in Funding Primary and Secondary Education (Essay Sample)

The Role of State Governments in Funding Primary and Secondary Education First and Last Name Department and Academic Institution Course Name and Number Instructor Due Date The Role of State Governments in Funding Primary and Secondary Education Public education in the United States is funded through a combination of sources. Because the United States is a federal system of government, power and responsibility are delegated to different branches of the government. As one of the most salient responsibilities that the government holds, funding for primary and secondary education gets a lot of attention from citizens. The quality of schools is a much discussed and debated subject in all fifty states, though often the question of how to improve public schools is left unanswered. The issue is widely acknowledged that schools across the United States underperform, and there is a general sense that more funding might be the solution. However, the particular problems facing schools which rely on state governments as well as other sources of revenue needs to explored so that the role that state governments, and the budget cuts they create, impact the quality of schools in the United States. How Variable Funding Schemes Create Variable Outcomes As mentioned above, the task of paying for public schools is shared among governments, though the burden is not shared equally among them. While government expenditures from year to year are not static, the proportion of funding coming from the federal government is remarkably consistent. The federal government pays the smallest share, contributing roughly 8-9% of school budgets (Hanson, 2022). Naturally, the federal government must distribute funding among each of the fifty states, and so the share of the contribution to each state is fairly modest. What this means is that the majority of school budgets come from a combination of state governments and city, county, and municipal governments known collectively as “local governments.” Local governments use a variety of taxes, including sales taxes, property taxes and taxes on the taxes on specific items such as tobacco on consumers to generate the income which is then distributed to schools. Property taxes make up the overwhelming majority. Because spending patterns and income levels vary widely, the amount of money local governments have to spend on schools varies accordingly (Hanson, 2022). The proportions provided by state and local governments likewise vary widely from state to state, with each state negotiating a different proportion of government spending. The government of Illinois provides around a quarter of funding, for instance, while states like Vermont contribute nine tenths of the budgets for primary and secondary schools (State, 2019) No two states spend precisely the same amount per student, and in some cases the cost per student can vary enormously. The State of Hawaii spends more than double the amount that the State of Missouri spends, for instance (Hanson, 2022). Budgets are created according to a formula which is unique to each state. The budget is based on the number of students in a given system and the operating costs of the facilities in that state. State budgets also allocate funds according to need, redistributing funding to schools where there is the greatest need (Leachman, Albares, Masterson, Wallace, 2015). If a school lies in an area where property taxes are low and sales taxes are low, the share that local governments contribute will accordingly be low, leaving state governments to make up the difference. When state governments reduce the funding they can provide due to budget cuts, this creates a perilous situation for already-underfunded schools. The Effects of Cuts to State Funding While budgets vary from year to year and state to state, in general the consistent trend has been a reduction in overall spending by state governments for more than a decade. A study published in 2015 by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warned that budget cuts by state governments caused after the 2008 recession had not reversed. The study concluded that schools were receiving less funding year on year from both state and local sources. These cuts were often dramatic, with fifteen states seeing a cut of greater than ten percent of total funding. This even as inflation meant that running school facilities became costlier (Leachman et al., 2015). Unfortunately, the same trend has held consistent in the intervening years, rather than reversing itself. A more study indicates that in 2020 schools in most states are receiving less than they did in 2008, without adjusting for inflation (Flannery, 2022). This means that schools must make due with less money from states. When schools do not the funding they need to operate, these budget shortfalls must be made up somewhere. If they do not, then school administrators must make difficult choices. Staff numbers may be reduced as well as programs which are popular with students and parents. Summer programs provide childcare during the interim period between sessions, a boon for parents and caregivers. Moreover, schools provide meals to low-income students, a service which cannot easily be found elsewhere if the cost of subsidizing meals becomes too grea...