The Day the Swimming Pool Died
In my utopian America every child has equal educational opportunities. This goes beyond simply making sure capital resources are equally distributed. Impoverished neighborhoods, which need the most help, would actually receive the most money. Well-to-do districts would not receive as much funding instead of consistently receiving more. Children everywhere would truly have an equal playing field. But this is a Utopia and not Northport, New York.
This blog entry will be my first and only blog in response to a letter-to-the-editor style editorial. I generally tried to avoid these, but this letter was too tempting. Barrie Bischoff, a stay at home mom from Northport, New York is not too happy with Governor Eliot Spitzer’s consolidated foundation aid formula. In a column titled “No Way, Robin Hood” Bischoff wrote for Newsday.com, she unloads on perceived future slights against her children and home school district. I do not know much personally about New York’s policy, but Bischoff’s reaction is interesting. While she admits she is from “an affluent school district” she is still worried about her school’s monetary future.
So, if I have this right, our state taxes will be pooled and redistributed to various communities such as New York City, where they pay little in property taxes, to upstate areas that have a lower cost of living, and to lower-income neighborhoods right here on Long Island that have larger second-language programs…[while]…We will have a revote and go on an austerity budget and will have to subject our children, who live in lovely, well-equipped homes, to cutbacks in programs, delays in school grounds improvements and overcrowded buses.
It is interesting to me that Bischoff can admit her situation is better than most, yet still complain about how people living in poverty in New York City still pay less property taxes. I know it is easy for me to, in Michigan, say how a New Yorker’s taxes should be allocated. But doesn’t it make sense to give more tax support to families who have less money? If she can admit her school district’s children live in “lovely, well-equipped homes” why would she have a problem supporting children who do not have this luxury?
I know from growing up in a small farming town that the prevailing stereotype about taxes being used in the inner-city is that the money would be wasted. That it is the urban citizen’s fault for living there and their fault for their own lack of money. If they would only pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like the suburban folks have, this would not be an issue. While Bischoff is worrying about “cutbacks in programs” she is not considering districts that do not have the programs to begin with.
So, if I have this right, this new redistribution of wealth is going to improve the quality of education for all children in our state. There will be more money available for inner-city children to play sports and learn to speak English, schools upstate to teach their children with shiny new computers and freshly painted walls, while we who have so much to pay in property taxes will struggle to keep our music program alive and never get a pool for our high school.
If the needier school districts do not have essential education, by all means let’s get it to them.
I am slightly appalled at the assumption that money in the inner-city should go to children to “play sports and learn to speak English” rather than “shiny new computers”. This seems minimally assumptive about the (lack of) abilities of certain children compared to others and possibly racist considering the ethnic make-up of the inner-city. While Bischoff complains about how her school may never have a pool she subjugates other children to simply learn how to speak English (probably in what she considers to be proper, standard English).
No Way, Robin Hood
Barrie Bischoff
March 25, 2007
stephcj said,
April 15, 2007 at 11:45 pm
This woman’s comments are simply disturbing. It’s as if she’s saying, “They don’t have enough books for an entire classroom in the city? Too bad, I want my swimming pool!” How she thinks that her children are going to “struggle” due to this new law is beyond me. Even if her kids do lose their music programs and won’t be able to get a pool, they’ll still be well ahead of the kids in the inner city – who don’t even have all of the basic resources that a school needs to function! I don’t think that the solution they’re trying to implement, however, is that great of an idea. Raising taxes in a wealthier community to help the poorer ones is not the way to go. I think that one possible solution for this type of situation would be not to make the amount of money schools get be based on the property taxes of the surrounding community, but instead be based simply on the number of students in each school. One student = “x” amount of money, school has “x” number of students, school gets “x” amount of money. It’s really pretty simple in my opinion. I think that if this type of law were put into place the achievement gap between wealth and poor students would be a lot smaller.
ENG 311 Comments « The Mechanic’s Daughter said,
April 15, 2007 at 11:50 pm
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anns311 said,
April 16, 2007 at 5:52 am
I recently had a conversation that sounded similar to the author of the editorial. This neighbor of mine wanted to remind me that not only does she pay tons of tuition for her children to attend private Christian school, she also generously supports public schools for “the rest of us” with her tax dollars. This conversation reminds me of the disgust you feel toward this woman from NY. Why are some so determined to promote themselves by holding back others? I have often thought that Michigan should increase there sales tax and decrease property tax so everyone could support their local programs. I also believe that all of the money should be divided in a way that would insure that all students would get to swim in “the school pool”. It’s a sad testimony that even the educational opportunities for our children are overwhelmingly governed by money and the people who have it.
trishcabobb said,
April 17, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Sometimes I wish I could win the lottery. Other times, I wish I could just go back to a trading society. Money stresses me out and confuses me. Many people are more than willing to donate to overseas aid to Africa AIDS relief funds or Relay for Life, but the same people are unwilling to vote to pass a bill to improve the quality of there schools. Usually, I blame the ignorant and the old who feel they have no investment in the future. Sounds mean, I know.
What can be done? Students may be too short to vote, but they are not too young to actively seek support and demonstrate their needs and abilities to the public. I would love to see a student response to the angry parent. Maybe they would agree with the parent, so then what? Well, read The House on Mango Street. The book features so many complicated views of immigrants, low-income, and education. Maybe their opinions will remain constant, but I think that maybe some will have a change of opinion and a change of heart.