On December 19 our group interviewed Kate Quarfordt who co-founded a charter school called “City School of the Arts.” We learned about how hard it is to run a school with limited resources. We learned that you can go to specialized schools that are out of your zone, but they are hard to get into. You will need tutors and extracurricular activities which cost money. Another shocking fact is that charter schools have more freedom than public schools, but they have 80% of the funds. This helped us get a basic understanding of our topic.
Kate told us about “the American dream,” which means you go to college and get a good job with a stable life. However, it is hard to get into a good college when you don’t go to a good school. Of course, with no college degree, or a degree from a community college will make it hard to find a high-paying job. Being in a low-quality school also means that you have lower-quality teachers, textbooks, classrooms, etc. This explains why good quality education is important later in life.
One thing that affects school funding, and quality is zoning laws. Zoning laws are when land is divided into “zones.” Some zones are not as rich as the others. That means houses are nicer in some zones, and property taxes go to school funding. Schools in poorer zones will receive less funding from property taxes. It is unfortunate that a lot of schools don’t get to buy higher quality things just because of where they are located.
