Indeed, and our prevailing method of funding public schools mostly through property taxes perpetuates the problem.
Schools in poor cities and neighborhoods with lower property tax bases receive far less funding per pupil than schools and more wealthy neighborhoods and cities. And property tax rates are levels are often proxies for race.
Detroit, where I lived for years until I moved out to the country, is a prime example. White flight devastated Detroit in the '60s and '70s, partially because of mandated desegregation in schools. White people didn't want their kids going to school with Black kids, so they moved to the suburbs, taking their incomes and property taxes with them.
Redlining kept many Black families from moving, even when they wanted to, which they didn't necessarily because Detroit was their home.
Property values in Detroit plummeted, property tax levels with them.
Which devastated funding for schools.
Today, not much has changed for the better. Thanks to thriving community groups and innovative real estate practices, Detroit is digging itself out of its hole, but while the city is beginning to thrive finally, property values remain very low compared to the suburbs, and the property-tax base is correspondingly low.
The state of Michigan provides some funds to make up the difference, but not enough. Teacher friends of mine pull hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets every year to buy basic supplies like paper, books (even text books, which are shockingly expensive), and pocket calculators for their students. Learning conditions are often abysmal in winter, with some schools not adequately heated because of budget problems.
Yet, drive north of Eight Mile Road, and you'll find sparkling schools that are well heated and well supplied, filled mostly with white children, of course, all made possible because of higher property taxes.
As a nation, we can pretend all we want that things are equitable in education now, but they are not, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Thanks for your story!
