North Carolina Teabaggers resegregate schools

[DrScholl]

The wackos are at it again. Make no mistake, this what they mean when they say "Taking America Back". Take the country back to 1955 is what they mean.

[DrScholl]

Ah yes, those wonderful days of 90% taxation on the top 1%, high union membership and.. Wait, why do liberals hate the '50s again?

Don't forget your favorite part, the dirty, troublemaking blacks couldn't vote or have proper education. Nowadays, they can just run amok and even steal the Presidency. Shameful.

[DrScholl]

If the schools are not equal opportunity or at least close to it, there is a big problem. The system really isn't about diversity, but equal opportunity. The Tea Party and their supporters can through out all the spin they like, it doesn't change what they're real agenda is.

[DrScholl]

It appears to me that the problem is that equal education would be a problem if poor students were all jammed into the same district, because those schools tend to not perform well at all. Unless this amazing, new Tea Party board can assure equal education, this system is not going to work at all. Name-calling and hyperbole does not change the fact that there are problems with the Tea Party's plan (once again, they have no clue what they are doing). It's more about income, than race.

[DrScholl]

So you're saying that this school district is operating cruddy schools, and good schools, and so they bus some kids that live near the good school to the cruddy school, and some who live near the good schools to the cruddy school?

That's not what I'm saying at all. The article doesn't mention sub-standard schools, the concern is about clustering low income students together, which can lead to education standards falling. Obviously, there is some risk of this, otherwise there wouldn't be opposition.

[DrScholl]

That's not what I'm saying at all. The article doesn't mention sub-standard schools, the concern is about clustering low income students together, which can lead to education standards falling. Obviously, there is some risk of this, otherwise there wouldn't be opposition.

Why would educational standards fall?

[/quote]

Because poor neighborhoods tend to get less educational funding than middle to upper class ones.

[DrScholl]

Why would the school district spend less in some of its schools than others?

Believe it or not, it does actually happen, a quick Google search would turn up plenty of examples. Educating poor students can be different than education middle or upper class students, which means more funds that the school districts don't want to provide.

[DrScholl]

But imagine you were one of the enlightened individuals who used to control the school board.  Why wouldn't you appropriate the funding to the schools?

Let's imagine there were two neighborhoods each with 1000 children and a school with capacity of 1000.  Neighborhood A is higher income than Neighborhood B.

Why wouldn't you as an enlightened school board member send $5 million to School A and $6 million to School B?

Instead you are going to spend several $400,000 on busing 500 children from Neighborhood A to School B, and 500 on busing 500 children from Neighborhood B to School A, and $5.3 million to each school.

What makes you think that both schools won't spend equal amounts on each student, if not more on the higher income students?

You are assuming that the process is always fair, school funding can be very political. In addition to that, school boards don't see lower income neighborhood schools as having that much potential. The question is if this school board will actually take steps towards equalizing funding, rather than just allowing the system to turn into a typical rich school/poor school scenario.