Written by Liberty V.
Edited by Sierra S.
From angry Parents to confused children, funding Public schools in America is not a one step process. According to The Century Foundation “The United States is underfunding its K-12 public schools by nearly $150 billion annually, robbing more than 30 million school children of the resources they need to succeed in the classroom.” To many American families this is completely normal, but why does it have to be, and why is it so hard?
The underfunding of Public schools has always been a problem in the US, however with the pandemic it has worsened over the years. Teachers are leaving and students are behind in classes.
I’m not here to give you the reasons on why or why not Public schools are getting funded, instead I am going to shed a better light on the topic. I’m going to show what good funding does for a Public school.
In late September of 2022, Nine North Carolina Schools were funded together with more than $300 million dollars.
You are now wondering where this $300 Million dollars went, according to ‘North Carolinas Public Instruction’ it states
“Among the projects to be funded by the grants, aimed at districts in economically distressed counties, are seven new or replacement school buildings, including three high schools, two schools combining middle and high school grades, an intermediate school for upper elementary and middle school grades and a Career and Technical Education Center. Some of these districts receiving the grants were hardest hit by natural disasters like flooding and an earthquake.
Several of the new schools will replace at least two existing schools with combined facilities. In all, the Department of Public Instruction received 164 grant applications from 72 districts across the state totaling more than $2.4 billion.”
What I like the most about this article is that these grants and funds given to these North Carolina Schools were used to benefit something that was actually needed, not a bigger football stadium or anything out of the ordinary. It was to create a better environment for students and educators. Later in the article people are becoming very thrilled about the money and it being used for good. The article interviews a woman named Catherine Truitt, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
“Many students in North Carolina attend schools built decades ago,” Truitt said. “These grants are paying for schools designed and built for the 21st century. Today’s students, regardless of where they live and attend school, deserve nothing less.”
Reading into more of the public schools themselves, they are very run down and these grants will benefit them positively. Finally at the bottom of the article there’s a list of all the counties, school districts, the amount of money they are receiving, and what those funds are going to. This is my favorite part of the article because I feel it is so important to be transparent about where these funds are going and how they will be benefiting the school.
Overall not all public school funding goes down the drain, in examples like North Carolina these grants and funds were used to their own advantage and for the greater good.
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