Today I interviewed Renny Swan, assistant principal at Fulmore Middle School in South Austin. The wicked problem that my group has chosen to explore is education; particularly how public schools are funded based on attendance of students. I asked Mr. Swan what he believed was the main issues surrounding this wicked problem and he told me that “we receive state funding via district funding under the Title I program. The problem is that we have to comply and provide training to teachers and support to the students of the high need population with this money, as opposed to using it solely for educational programs.” This problem impacts South Austin, because we are in a low-income area with a lot of diversity. “The problem with funding based on attendance” says Swan, “is that low-income students are less likely to have good school attendance due to transportation problems, parents not always in the picture and issues concerning their personal and family life caused by financial hardship.” It is ultimately unfair to punish a school by providing it with less funding when they have students who need programs such as the “English as a Second Language” program. I believe schools should be funded based on need and not on attendance.