Safe place, no judgement.

   "Inequality begins in childhood: The United States is underfunding our public schools by nearly $150 billion annually, robbing millions of children—predominantly minority and low-income children—of the opportunity to succeed." (The Century Foundation.) Children who come from poverty begin a life of inequality, but why must school also begin to judge them? As children we see no difference from right and wrong we go to school for those educational purposes. We learn in school to not judge others, that different is okay that bullying is wrong. 

   This is where adults and those who fund schools should see the hypocrisy. For some students schools are their safe places, being so judging them gives them a sense of unworthy. Children must not fight for the best education we as the adults should fight for the children. We must fight for all children, they deserve to achieve greatness and succeed in life. Education is one of the most important aspects of our lives, from education we turn weakness into strength.  

   

               Inequity in public education is not a natural occurrence, but rather the result of funding choices. "Underfunding education doesn’t just leave the most vulnerable children ill-prepared for the world, it makes the world a crueler and more divided place to grow up in." (How Unequal School Funding Punishes Poor Kids.  We must give all children an equal stance in the world. Education opens the door to new opportunities, it gives students a way out of their homes and a way into their own lives.  Education leads many to greatness, children should have the choice whether to continue education and if they get the proper education they can obtain scholarships that can allow them to continue education. 

   

Overall, we must work for a change together as a team. We must understand one another and have empathy while doing so. As we come together we can make a change. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, by incorporating this into our lives we are able to see and understand those who need help. "Arizona ranks dead last, and inadequate funding is at the root of the state’s severe teacher shortage and lackluster student achievement.” This blog will be dedicated to bringing to light this problem in AZ communities, for parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those AZ low income schools. 

Reference

How Unequal School Funding Punishes Poor Kids. (2018, May 14). The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-unequal-school-funding-punishes-poor-kids/

The Century Foundation. (2020, July 22). Closing America’s Education Funding Gaps. https://tcf.org/content/report/closing-americas-education-funding/?session=1

Coming together...

  "Studies show that students of poverty have a higher rate of absenteeism. They are seven times more likely to drop out of school altogether than their higher-income peers because they have to work or care for family members." (Callahan, S.) Students who drop out of school do it to help their own families but who is helping those students? That where we can help! We as the people can work together to help keep students in school by getting equal funding for those who come from low income district.   

   We must learn to value the importance of other's peoples opinions, the value of compromising. Once we have valued these things we will work great together for the cause of Equal funding for low income schools. Without synergy we cannot move forward, because synergy is what keep us humble and communicating. Arizona has come a long way but we must continue to fight and push and get all kids the equal opportunities the all deserve no matter, race, values and beliefs.

   The need to make the world a better tomorrow for the children starts here. We need to acknowledge that not everyone gets equal education. By acknowledging that we can begin to communication and from communicating we need to work together to form a solution where we can all win. We need to work with synergy into the movement to have the best outcome that allows everyone to share and everyone to compromise together for a better tomorrow, for a better future for all children.

   Overall, we must work for a change together as a team. We must understand one another and have empathy while doing so. As we come together we can make a change. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, by incorporating this into our lives we are able to see and understand those who need help. "Arizona ranks dead last, and inadequate funding is at the root of the state’s severe teacher shortage and lackluster student achievement.” This blog will be dedicated to bringing to light this problem in AZ communities, for parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those AZ low income schools. 

Reference

Callahan, S. (2021, February 3). Children’s Education and Poverty. Children Incorporated. https://childrenincorporated.org/childrens-education-and-poverty/#:%7E:text=%E2%80%93%20Poverty%E2%80%99s%20effects%20on%20the%20psychological%20and%20emotional,have%20to%20work%20or%20care%20for%20family%20members

A Quality Approach to School Funding. (2018, November 13). Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/quality-approach-school-funding/

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understand

   Why is equal funding important? School funding issues are a major problem with direct links to student achievement levels. Schools with smaller budgets, which often can’t offer small classes and better programs, see lower student achievement, creating a socioeconomic in education."Students in high-poverty communities continue to have less access to core academic services that increase student outcomes." A Quality Approach to School Funding.) By seeking first to understand we are able incorporate the teachers, students, and those who are affected by low income funding. 

   Funding is considered the central component that provides students with a high-quality education and often leads to improved outcomes if children attend well funded schools. Children that attend schools that are underfunded are effected with classes that have a high teacher to student ratio. Teachers also get affected with having to pay out of pocket with supplies they need and they take home work vs taking time for themselves. We need to come into the realization that school funding is important. Being able to supply children with equal education gives them all a fighting chance and helps them achieve their academic potential.  

Being able to find those who are a role in school funding and reaching out to them for a change is one step close to being able to reach our goal in changing inequality. The districts, states, and the federal government play crucial roles in equity. (A Quality Approach to School Funding.) Those who play a role in our education inequalities are the the local, state, and federal role.  Money does matter for students achievements. Being able to incorporate the importance of funding to those who have a role in funding schools . 

Overall, we must work for a change together as a team. We must understand one another and have empathy while doing so. As we come together we can make a change. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, by incorporating this into our lives we are able to see and understand those who need help. "Arizona ranks dead last, and inadequate funding is at the root of the state’s severe teacher shortage and lackluster student achievement.” This blog will be dedicated to bringing to light this problem in AZ communities, for parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those AZ low income schools. 

Reference

A Quality Approach to School Funding. (2018, November 13). Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/quality-approach-school-funding/

Win to win, for equal funding.

  My fellow AZ community have you ever wondered where we land on a school funding system? Well I did the research so let me share this with you, "Arizona ranks dead last, and inadequate funding is at the root of the state’s severe teacher shortage and lackluster student achievement." (Education Law Center). What do you think we can do as a community to change this?  Let me tell you how I think we can make the change. Step one working together for this movement! Step two making a common agenda of what we want as our outcome and step 3 go for it!

   As a team we need to remember that the war must be won not just a battle. There will be many battles to get some sort of change implemented. But we are programed to compete with one another and there will be those who will oversee this movement. But for a movement like this we must learn to work together to make our partnership succeed. We must learn which battles are worth winning and to be able to find a solution for more win wins together. We will fight together, we will work together, we will win, lose and achieve our outcome together! 

  But first, we need to realize a war is what  must be won but we must show our maturity by how we obtain this win. Doing our research like the fact that, "Arizona is one of eight states that does not increase funding to account for student poverty, resulting in lower funding for the state’s higher poverty school districts" (Education Law Center) can help strengthen our pull. All children are equal, we all go through the steps of education but we all don't get the same chances as the other. Education is a part of our daily lives, giving the students the chance to achieve their greatest potential is what we are fighting for! Not just for students but also for teachers, for school employees for everyone who thinks they have no voice, we are fighting for those little people.   

   Overall, as you can see from the information that I have given you Arizona needs help. We all need a win-win! We want the best for the children as a stakeholder or partner you will be able to help make that change for a child by joining the movement and helping AZ. This blog will be dedicated to bring to light this problem in AZ communities, for parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those AZ low income schools. 

Over

Reference

Krengel, S. (n.d.). HOW TO IMPROVE ARIZONA’S WORST IN THE NATION SCHOOL FUNDING SYSTEM | Education Law Center. Education Law Center. https://edlawcenter.org/news/archives/other-states/how-to-improve-arizona%E2%80%99s-worst-in-the-nation-school-funding-system.html

"A Tale of Two Schools"

What is valuable to you? Can education be seen as valuable? The answer is YES! "Values education therefore promotes tolerance and understanding above and beyond our political, cultural and religious differences, putting special emphasis on the defense of human rights, the protection of ethnic minorities and the most vulnerable groups, and the conservation of the environment." (What Is Values Education?) If education can do this much then why are schools not equally valued? 

The value of education should be considered as much as the value of money. Some children go to school as long as an adults work day. The only difference between an adult and a child is that an adult goes to work for money and a child goes to work for educational purposes. If we valued who we want our children or any child to grow up to be we must give them fair education. The chance to give every child a fight chance and to help them grow and succeed.

We all need to realize the importance of funding school equal. 

Statically speaking, "underserved students, including minorities and low-income students, attend and complete college at far lower rates than their peers. These students are suspended, expelled, and drop out at higher rates, and are less likely to have access to strong teachers and challenging curricula." (Equity of Opportunity) We need to come together as a society to get equal funding distributed to all schools. For most of us we see the difference between how education was and how it is now. We all have those school near or around us that need the equal funding not just for the students but to also help the employees at those school.

The first action I would like you to take is it to view the video above, think to yourself about what the differences you see. Have you identified any if not a lot of them? This video is an excellent example of the difference students go through and how unequal the education system is. As a parent I want the best for my child, and another child. This blog will be dedicated to bring to light this problem in AZ communities, for parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those AZ low income schools. 

r

References

Equity of Opportunity | U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Ed. https://www.ed.gov/equity

I. (2019, October 10). What Is Values Education? Iberdrola. https://www.iberdrola.com/talent/value-education#:%7E:text=Values%20education%20therefore%20promotes%20tolerance,the%20conservation%20of%20the%20environment.

H. (2009, February 20). “A Tale of Two Schools” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdfVAPvv9A&feature=youtu.be

Begin with the end in mind!

 

Let’s begin by talking about education. Do you remember yours? Do you remember how well the school was kept up? How big or small the classes were? Did your school have after school programs or clubs? Well this is where school funding comes into play. From school activities, clubs, how well the school maintenance was, all the way to how small or big the classrooms can be. School funding contributes to all that and many more things.

This is where our values come into play. Whoever we may be, we all have some form of value towards education. We all did some form of learning, whether it was at home, in school or online we valued what we learned. “Research shows that increases in school spending result in greater educational and economic outcomes for all students, but these were more pronounced for children from low-income families.” (A Quality Approach to School Funding). Children are our future, so why not give our future a fighting chance. 

Our needs as a project is to obtain stakeholders, those who have the same values and needs as us. Which are the needs of getting everyone an equal opportunity in education. Leading to how the funding in low income schools differ from those in other schools.  As we come together to form a group we come together to get to know each other's needs and values in a judgement free zone. If your needs piece in with ours we would love to have you as a stakeholder to help form a group who can bring into action equal funding.

The call of action that needs to be taken is to create a visibility plan with the stakeholders who would like to get involved in this project. A communication plan needs to be built, communication is the key to success. We must begin by deciding what our end goal is, Equal funding for all schools. Discussion and research must be done to view the difference between well funded schools vs schools that are underfunded. A well written layout of what we expect of our stakeholders and what our stakeholders expect from us must also be discussed. Once everything is formally written on paper, discussed and approved we will take action and begin on our goal.

Equality

 
            "Millions of students and educators in the US grapple with disparities in their schools on a daily basis. The harsh reality is some schools have the benefit of quality buildings and facilities, while others must make do with leaking ceilings and makeshift gymnasiums." (School of Education - American University. )  For this reason it is important to make urgent reform on school funding. The cause of lower funds aren't just affecting the students achievements but also our teachers with budget cuts. This blog will be dedicated to bring to light this problem to communities, parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those schools. 

Reference

School of Education - American University. (2020, September 11). Inequality in Public School Funding: Key Issues & Solutions for Closing the Gap. School of Education. https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/inequality-in-public-school-funding

Equal funding, Equal Education

 "Research suggests increased spending on education can improve student outcomes, especially among low-income students." (School funding: Do poor kids get their fair share?) There is a common ground between student performance and they're academic achievements, which comes from the funding of schools they attend. Students that come from a low income family aren't less bright or less capable, nothing from along the lines of they can't. The problem is that these students just don't have the resources they deserve to achieve academic excellence and opportunities due to the funding of the schools they attend. For example if there is lower funding there is less teachers meaning bigger classes. This blog will be dedicated to bring to light this problem to communities, parents and the districts and help create ways on how we can help as a community to bring more funds for those schools. 

 References

School funding: Do poor kids get their fair share? (2017, May 31). Features : : School Funding: Do Poor Kids Get Their Fair Share? https://apps.urban.org/features/school-funding-do-poor-kids-get-fair-share/