Economic Frustration with Public Education - This is just me studying for Ed. Law

Good morning Kiddo,
 

Your dad and I ponder where we're going to live quite a bit these days (e.g. where should I do a Ph.D., if I do it, what bar exam(s) should I take - if I take bars, etc.) And we consider a number of things in the analysis. We think about where we'll find supportive, loving community; where we'll make an impact with our work; where our family will be; how is the weather (I think about this more than your dad does); and lately, how are the schools?

Where will we send you to school? We don't want to rule out the South just yet, but your father and I both have a strong preference for public education. But we want for you a kind of idealized view of what we think public education should be. For instance, there are a number of societal goals built into the provision of public education - chief among them is to equalize the positions of all people, and that’s simply not happening. In fact, public education looks like one giant meritocracy. Why? Money. In almost all places in the U.S., school resources are based on property tax, and kids in areas with lower tax bases have less opportunity for quality education.  We think that being educated in a racially and socioeconomically diverse environment is ideal and that any education that lacks such diversity is almost guaranteed to be inferior.

However, in the South, it’s harder to commit to. For instance, NC lags behind northeastern schools because the South is poorer in economic resources generally, and also because people in the South are more spread out. In order for NC to raise the same amount of money for public education as does an average northeastern city, we would have to raise 5 times the tax dollars from each citizen than do northeastern school districts. People in NC simply haven't gotten to the place that they can or will relinquish that much investment in the public schools - especially in public schools that are still largely segregated.

In Leandro, the Supreme Court of NC held that every NC child has a right to a sound, basic education, but that doesn’t mean much. It basically just means there have to be schools, and that the schools have to be barely adequate. Call me crazy, or elitist, or just overly optimistic, but as your mother, I want more for you! I want more for every other mother's sons and daughters too - but as I am personally charged with care for you, it really hits home as I think about the direction for this family's path. Still, our preference for public education is so strong, that we are more likely to choose between the North and the South than we are to consider choosing between public and private schools. I hope you like cold weather. I don't :-(