“The United States is one of few advanced nations where schools serving better-off children usually have more educational resources than those serving poor students,” writes Eduardo Porter for the New York Times. This is because a large percentage of funding for public education comes not from the federal government, but from the property taxes collected in each school district. Rich kids, then, get more lavish educations.
This means differences in how much we spend per student both across and within states. New York, for example, spends about $19,000 per student. In Tennessee they spend $8,200 and in Utah $5,321. Money within New York, is also unequally distributed: $25,505 was spent per student in the richest neighborhoods, compared to $12,861 in the poorest.
This makes us one of the three countries in the OECD — with Israel and Turkey — in which the student/teacher ratio is less favorable in poor neighborhoods compared to rich ones. The other 31 nations in the survey invest equally in each student or disproportionately in poor students. This is not meritocracy and it is certainly not equal opportunity.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.


Comments 70
Lunad — December 8, 2013
of course, in many developing countries, state money for schooling goes only to the poor, because the wealthy all pay for private school.
Beer And Trembling — December 8, 2013
Federalism is pretty simple once you understand the concept. Instead of comparing the entire United States to other nations that are smaller and more centralized, it would make more sense to compare it to the EU. England is richer than Poland, so English schools spend more money per child on schooling. New York is richer than Mississippi, so they spend more money per child. It's obvious once you know that the federal government is not the source of all school funding.
teacherlady — December 8, 2013
In addition to greater funding through property taxes, schools in districts (or in neighborhoods within districts) with a population on the higher end of the socioeconomic spectrum benefit from: a) a larger PTA budget and greater parental participation due to the population being affluent enough to afford to have one parent who works outside the home while the other either works from home or works as a homemaker and is therefore available to volunteer at the school; b) having more business partners who help to support the school through additional funding or through in kind donations; c) other types of tangible and intangible benefits that are not available to schools in poverty stricken areas. This is not to point a finger at those resource rich districts and/or neighborhoods. Nobody is expecting them to give up their resources. The state and the feds should make up the difference. Even though the residents of the poorer neighborhoods might not pay property taxes under their own names, believe that their rents are raised when their landlord's taxes are raised. In addition, everyone pays sales taxes.
Asmodeus Belial — December 8, 2013
I don't see a case here for my responsibility in paying unlimited amounts of my tax money for the questionable return of trying to educate people who are surrounded, in their families and peer groups, by cultural attitudes that are hateful toward education and knowledge. The money is much better spent on students who are getting reinforcement at home of the academic attitude of educational institutions, and this means middle-class families and up.
Poor children are, in general, a poor investment of such resources. Some few will be able by sheer will and individual talent to rise above the mediocre level of their birth, but nearly all of the rest would continue to struggle and fail even if you threw money at their schools, and the fault lies directly with the familial environment.
Yes, I know, sociologists are almost categorically incapable of understanding that logic, but then there's much about reality that such creatures cannot fathom.
Trabb's Boy — December 8, 2013
School funding disparity is one of the most egregious social policies in the States. It is very unlikely to ever change, though. Didn't Vermont try in the 1990's, only to get shot down by the richer districts?
And it winds up being true in more places than this article indicates. I live in Canada, and the funding of the schools is provincial, but the schools vary tremendously because of fundraising in the local community. For example, my daughter's first elementary school only had a library open two afternoons a week. Her second school not only had a huge library with full time staff, but also helpers in every class and crap like a photography club and professional theatre performances visiting.
Not many people will accept less than the best they can afford and fight for for their children.
Vadim McNab — December 11, 2013
II live in Los Angeles and I like to see those Korean immigrants who barely speak English and have successful businesses.... They prove that if you really want to make it in America, you still can with a solid commitment to working toward success, not playing the victim card.
And it's no wonder that blacks in LA hate asian communities....
Bill R — December 11, 2013
A few thoughts:
1. So long as the US remains a democracy and retains some form of middle class and states rights, people are going to want to buy homes in "good school districts". This is just a fact of life and those with money are like everyone else in that regard. Take a well to do couple who live in a relatively high tax state and earn $500,000. Paying $190,000 in fed/state income taxes has already blown their minds; adding another $19,000 for local property taxes to support education for their kids is a no brainer.
2. The irony in even contemplating a national, more egalitarian approach is that its the "red" states who'd oppose any kind of tax increase on the wealthy even though they'd be the beneficiaries. And they wouldn't want "Washington" to "dictate" what their kids were taught. This is the politics people...
3. Finally, many educated Americans are fed up with the quality of public schools in general regardless of who pays. Grade and high school teaching has never been a high-profile profession, we continue to hire teachers from the bottom rungs of the college ladders and we accept mediocrity in return. Not a great environment to launch a tax-based, higher-spending, change-campaign in is it?
Gunnvor Valkyrie — January 5, 2014
The US is a despicable nation.
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JohnGord — July 22, 2021
Hello.
The pandemic has indeed brought a lot of changes to the education system and to what is considered necessary in the study of what is not. It seems to me that the world will no longer be the same and the financing system will also change. Since the transition to the distance level will give an opportunity for not very wealthy families to choose the best places to study. In addition, it is possible to access most of the online services that were not available for writing before. Therefore, balance is best, as well as access to education for all groups of the population.
dawn knight — November 13, 2021
For as long as I can remember the NUMS Syllabus have talked about Special Education reform and what it's going to mean to us. Today, it's no different. Only the names have changed, and today's name is full-inclusion.
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