On Mon, 31 Jan 2011, Alan Rudy wrote:
> Without suggesting that there's not very much merit to this argument,
> because there is a great deal of merit to it, the situation on this
> front isn't as bad as it was before the Supreme Court determined that
> using local property taxes to fund education was unconstitutional.
> Where things get messed up is - as I understand it - that per student
> funding is done at the state level in almost all states but that this
> applies only to instructional costs. In terms of buildings, facilities
> and other infrastructures, whether or not local millages pass dictates
> the physical and technical structure and quality of schools and
> extracurriculars and this matters no little bit.
Fascinating. So are high school teachers in Tenafly, New Jersey paid the same as high school teachers in Englewood or Newark? With the same average class sizes? And the resulting differences in teacher credentials is simply because all working conditions outside salary are so much nicer and easier in a rich town? There aren't any bonus, pension, sabbatical etc. loopholes around this?
Michael