The Blue and Gold maldenblueandgold.com Malden High School Volume 103 Edition 6
77 salem street April/May 2018
Funding Education: How It Affects The Nation’s Schools and Malden High School
As the new fiscal year approaches and the school year ends, is it time to look at how we, as a city and as a nation, fund education? Rebeca Pereira Head of Local News
O
klahoma’s four day school week may seem like a treat to its astoundingly high percentage of four year olds enrolled in preschool, but the guise of an “extended weekend” won’t suffice for most Oklahoman children who have begun seeing their teachers not only in the classroom, but in the streets and in the headlines, as well. In 1998, Oklahoma became the second state to provide free, universal early education for 4 year olds, and enrollment stands at 74% for publicly funded pre-k, but in other facets of the Oklahoman education system, funding
is severely lacking, and nowhere is the insufficiency of the budget more apparent than in the numbers. According to Reuters, over the last 10 years, inflation adjusted per-student funding dropped approximately 28% and for that, and many other reasons, the Oklahoma Teachers Association extended its strike into a second week before coming to a resolution. West Virginia, Colorado and Arizona are also having their own time in the national spotlight. There is a school funding issue across the nation. But to what extent? And, as dissatisfaction burgeons into protest elsewhere, what are we doing, and what are we willing to do in Massachusetts, and specifically in Malden to prevent our budgetary issues from devolving into a crisis?
In 2016, the City of Malden’s total expenditure per pupil was $13,887.61. In 2008, the total expenditure per pupil was $12,054.92, which, when adjusted in accordance with inflation rates, is equivalent to $13,898.14. So, funding per student has basically remained the same. Comparing to other districts throughout the nation, Malden and Massachusetts have fared better than other financially disadvantaged areas, but dismissing the very real issues with current education funding would be a disservice to students, teachers, and administrators alike.
Funding Education: How It Affects The Nation’s Schools and Malden High School continued on pages 10 &11 - Funding the Visual Arts - A Glimpse at the Performing Arts - All Hands on Deck: Budgeting the District - The State of the State Budget - Conclusion
maldenblueandgold.com Malden High School Volume 103 Edition 6 April/May 2018