paying for public education
in ohio, local property taxes pay for majority the local school district funding. state monies are a portion of the district funds.well to do district=lots of money, poor district=less money, the amount the state kicks in is the same in well to do areas of ohio as in appalachian ohio. the state constution requires a through education. a parent from a poor area of ohio sued the state saying the local property tax supported schools were unconstutional due to the fact that the state constutional requirements of a through education was not being met. the state supreme court found in favor of the plaintiff and ordered the state legislature to change the funding system. the original orders to change were handed down nearly 10 years ago. the state and plaintiff have gone back on appeals 3 times over the last 10 years, each time the supreme court has upheld the unconstutionality of the funding system, and told the legislature to find another way to fund primary education. the state legislature (minimally) increased the amount the state paid for student education. the problem of very inadaquate educational systems in ohio remains. there are school districts that lack basic plumbing/heating systems(let alone air conditioning)/buildings out of current fire code, as well as in poor repair. there are districts that lack computer systems, let alone the wiring for such. raising property taxes in poor areas isn't going to bring in any where near enough money to raise the education levels in these areas.
without the social infrastructure of a good educational system, companies won't come and open businesses there, people do/will leave in search of better opportunities, and the problems associated with poverty will only increase.
how do other states fund their education systems? dedicated personal income taxes? dedicated sales taxes? property taxes as ohio does? i'm interested in seeing if there are other ways to make an effective eduational system work.
Last edited by joycenalex; 06-14-2003 at 05:14 PM.
joyce who has princess peanut, spokesdog for the catpack, mojo, magic, kira and squirty, members of the catpack, angel duke, a good dog who is missed and angel alex the wonder dog, handsome prince.
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