English

Part One: Answer the following questions based on your own knowledge, experience and opinions.

Who pays for public schools?

Is there a correlation between money and education? Does the amount of money a school spends on students influence the quality of the education students receive?

Part Two: Read the Times article about funding differences between mostly white school districts and mostly nonwhite ones, and then answer the following questions:

How much less total funding do school districts that serve predominantly students of color receive compared to school districts that serve predominantly white students?

Why are school district borders problematic?

How many of the nation’s schoolchildren are in “racially concentrated districts, where over 75 percent of students are either white or nonwhite”?

How much less money, on average, do nonwhite districts receive than white districts?

How are school districts funded?

How does lack of school funding affect classrooms?

What is the new kind of ”white flight” in Arizona and why is it a problem?

What is an “enclave”? What does the statement “some school districts have become their own enclaves” mean?

For Further Exploration:

Research your local school district budget, using public records or local media, such as newspapers or television reporting. What is the budget per student? How does that budget compare with the state average? The national average?