For too many students, the education gap remains stubbornly wide.
“We know that there is an overwhelming achievement gap between urban and suburban school districts,” said Cynthia Kirby, vice president of the Syracuse school board. “There are more children in poverty in Syracuse than the suburbs, and it costs more to educate those children.”
Generally, education experts say it is more difficult to educate the urban students than suburban students. A number of factors contribute to this difference, including single-parent households, less educated parents and fewer meals of nutritional value, according to Kirby and other education experts.
Those differences are at the heart of the nation’s ongoing debate about how to ensure that all students get an equally good education. In the world of public policy and research, that gap—between rich and poor; between cities and suburbs; among races and ethnicities—is called “educational disparity.”
The disparities in how well students are educated are fueled, experts say, by poverty, by cultural trends such as single-parent families and by too little public money for troubled schools.
The federal law called No Child Left Behind—the crown-jewel of the Bush administration’s education policy—was meant to close that gap. But so far, the results are mixed, agree education experts.
In government statistics, the disparity looks like this:
- Schools in “good standing”
In Syracuse, of 32 schools only 13 are “in good standing,” according to the state education department. A school is considered to be in good standing if it has met yearly progress on test scores mandated by the state. By comparison, of the 87 schools in Onondaga County outside of Syracuse, 84 are in good standing by state standards.
- Graduation Rates
The high school graduation rate in Syracuse is 51 percent. The Fayetteville-Manlius school district, one of the wealthiest suburban school districts in Onondaga County, has a graduation rate of 92 percent.
- Free or reduced-price lunch
This is one measure of the number of students from low-income families in a school. In the Syracuse school district, 75 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. In the Fayetteville-Manlius school district, 6 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in the 2007-2008 school year.
- Suspension rates
In the Syracuse school district, 19 percent of students in the 2006-2007 school year were suspended for at least one day. In the Fayetteville-Manlius school district, 2 percent of students were suspended for at least one day that same school year.
- School funding
In New York state, funding is different for each school district. In 2006, in the poorest districts the funding per pupil was about $12,000, and in the wealthiest districts it was more than $33,000, according to the federal government’s National Center for Educational Statistics.
Those vivid inequalities inspired the federal government’s largest intervention into education through the No Child Left Behind Act. It was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in January 2002. The act was supported by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Altering the education system was one of President Bush’s top priorities when he entered office. Among other things, the law was aimed at raising state education standards and accountability.
Now, No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization by Congress. But Republicans and Democrats are now polarized on the underlying problems with the federal program. Most Democrats say the problem is that the program has been severely under funded. Most Republicans, who once supported the law as a Bush Administration proposal, say the program is too much interference by the federal government in an issue that should be handled by each state.
When it comes to funding, a large portion—nearly half—of school district funding comes from local property taxes. Districts with higher property taxes have more money to spend on their schools. Suburban districts generally have much higher property tax bases than urban districts, according to Robert D. McClure, the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy and a Syracuse University political scientist who teaches a course dealing with the public school system.
Some experts say that the public school system does not focus on providing more help to those schools in the urban districts.
“We spend more money where less money is needed,” said McClure. “We spend more money on those who are advantaged.”
Some potential solutions, experts say, include:
- Private school vouchers
In ten states and the District of Columbia, a voucher program subsidizes the cost of private schools for some students who can’t afford the tuition. But the program does not put money into the public schools. Syracuse does not have a voucher program.
Vouchers allow some students from poor public schools, proponents say, to get a better education at a private school that they would not otherwise be able to afford.
Critics say vouchers don’t deal with the underlying issues in the public school system. They also say that vouchers chiefly benefit middle-class students who need less aid in affording private school. The program does not benefit low-income students as much, according to critics.
Another problem with the voucher program is how to replicate it and make it work as a systematic change for all students, according to education experts.
“In theory, vouchers seem fine, but the problem is how to make it work on a broader scale,” said McClure, the SU political scientist.
Some Syracuse school officials object to a voucher program for Syracuse students. Cynthia Kirby is one of the most outspoken supporters of traditional public schools on the Syracuse school board.
“I absolutely do not support vouchers,” said Kirby. “It is yet another example of taking public funds away from the public school system.”
- Charter schools
Charter schools are public schools run by a non-profit or for-profit companies. These schools get public funding just like traditional public schools. But unlike traditional public schools, the local school board does not have control over how a charter school’s funding is spent. Also, charter schools are exempt from many of the regulations of traditional public schools, such as specific guidelines on where the funding is spend and requirements to use union teachers.
Charter school proponents say that charter schools allow some students from poor performing schools to attend schools that can experiment with different techniques to potentially give them a better education.
Charter schools have a mixed track record across the country. For example, the first charter school in Syracuse—the Central New York Charter School of Math and Science—closed in 2005 after five years of operation because of low test scores. The two remaining Syracuse charter schools—Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School and Southside Academy Charter School—are doing well after six and seven years of operation respectively.
Kirby, the vice president of the Syracuse school board, also rejects charter schools. “Charter schools are just another case of the private sector taking money away from our schools,” said Kirby.
- Magnet schools
Magnet schools are part of the public school system. Each charter school focuses on a particular subject or area of study. The schools attract students who are especially interested in and have a talent for particular disciplines. Unlike traditional public schools and charter schools, magnet schools can have admissions requirements.
Syracuse has six magnet schools, all of which are elementary schools. Those schools are Dr. King Magnet School, Franklin Magnet School, Hughes Magnet School, McKinley-Brighton Magnet School, Porter Magnet School and Seymour Magnet School.
Proponents say that magnet schools provide a targeted curriculum that allows some poorer students with aptitudes for certain subjects to get a more advanced education in that area.
One major criticism of magnet schools is that they are too narrowly focused and force students to decide on a career path too early.
- Public school choice
Under school-choice programs, students can apply to go to another public school outside of their designated geographic area. This program enables some public school students to leave a lower-performing or less safe school and transfer to a higher-performing school within the district.
Proponents say that school choice programs allow some poorer students to attend schools and get a better education than they would at their neighborhood schools.
Syracuse does not have a school-choice program.
Washington, D.C., has a popular school-choice program. Students join a lottery, winners can get the schools of their choice. But it is dependent on room in the schools and spaces are often scarce.
A criticism of school-choice programs is that they disregard the benefits of neighborhood schools.
“There is good reason for neighborhood schools,” said education expert McClure of SU. “There is a ready-made community, and it makes it easier for parents to get involved if the school is nearby. Also, there is the problem of how to get the children to these schools and how many public dollars it takes to transport them.”
- New funding methods
Part of the funding for public schools depends on income or property taxes, so wealthier areas have more school funding available.
Proponents say that a revamping of the funding system would ensure that poorer districts are not at a disadvantage and would allow poor students to get the same education as a wealthy student.
Kirby of the Syracuse school board says the school district just needs more funding to improve the performance of its schools. “With increased funding, we would have the money for additional programs and support for the students who need it the most,” said Kirby.
Others say the school system has fundamental problems that cannot be solved by additional funding. Political scientist McClure says that the funding structure is a fundamental aspect of the education disparity.
“We need to find a different basis for funding education,” McClure said. “Local property taxes are an outmoded and ineffective basis for funding education.”
(Laura Brandon is a senior with dual majors in newspaper journalism and political science.)
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