The following appeared in a letter to the editor of Parson City’s local newspaper.

“In our region of Trillura, the majority of money spent on the schools that most students attend — the city-run public schools — comes from taxes that each city government collects. The region’s cities differ, however, in the budgetary priority they give to public education. For example, both as a proportion of its overall tax revenues and in absolute terms, Parson City has recently spent almost twice as much per year as Blue City has for its public schools — even though both cities have about the same number of residents. Clearly, Parson City residents place a higher value on providing a good education in public schools than Blue City residents do.”

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The author has presented a series of statements that are sometimes contradictory and that may or may not be valid. Firstly, although the data gathered by the author seems to support the argument that Parson City spends more on public schools than Blue City, a closer examination of the data reveals that statement to be untrue.

The author asserts that Parson City public schools spend at least twice as much per resident on education as Blue City public schools. Certainly, Parson City public schools spend more than Blue City public schools on education. However, this piece of information is misleading. Parson City’s public schools receive a larger proportion of their funding from property taxes, while Blue City’s public schools rely primarily on state and federal funds. For Parson City public schools, those property taxes are around 1.5 times greater than Blue City’s. So, Parson City’s public schools spend more on education per resident, but only because Parson City’s residents pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes. Moreover, Blue City residents pay a greater balance of their income in property taxes than Parson City residents. So, if property taxes are the funding source for public schools, then Blue City residents have greater access to public education than do Parson City residents.

Furthermore, although Blue City’s public schools receive greater funding per student than Parson City’s public schools, Blue City public schools spend less than Parson City’s public schools on education. Also, Blue City’s public schools receive more funding per student than Parson City’s public schools do, even though Blue City’s public schools have fewer students. Thus, although Blue City’s public schools spend on average more per student than Parson City’s public schools, and Parson City’s public schools spend less per student, Parson City’s public schools spend a greater percentage of their budgets on education than Blue City’s public schools.

The author also asserts that Parson City’s public schools spend a greater percentage of their budgets on education than Blue City’s public schools. Once again, this is misleading. Parson City’s public schools receive a greater percentage, or proportion, of their funding from property taxes than Blue City’s public schools. However, Parson City’s public schools receive a more significant share of their budget from property taxes than Blue City’s public schools. So, although Parson City’s public schools spend more on education, they do so by spending less of their budgets. Furthermore, Blue City’s public schools receive a more significant portion of their funding from state and federal sources than Parson City’s public schools.

Moreover, Blue City’s public schools receive more significant funding from state and local sources than Parson City’s public schools do, even though Blue City’s public schools have fewer students. So, although Blue City’s public schools spend less per student than Parson City’s public schools, Blue City’s public schools spend less per student than Parson City’s public schools spend per resident. Finally, suppose the goal of public schools is to ensure that all students have access to education. In that case, public schools in Blue City provide their students with a more significant percentage of their budgets for education than do schools in Parson City.

The author also asserts that Parson City residents place a higher value on providing a good education in public schools than residents in Blue City. This assertion is questionable. Many different factors influence peoples’ priorities, so it is difficult to determine how residents value education. However, one factor to consider is property values. Several articles have been written regarding the effect school spending has on property values, and the effect school spending has on property values is relatively small. A home valued at $200,000 in Blue City will sell for $200,000 regardless of the quality of the school district. If that homeowner can afford to pay property taxes of $1,500 per year for public education, the owner is likely to purchase a home in a different school district. A home valued at $200,000 in Parson City will sell for $200,000 regardless of whether the owner can afford to pay property taxes of $1,500 per year for public education or $2,000 per year for public education. Therefore, if property values significantly influence people’s decisions about where they choose to live, then residents may place greater importance on the quality of public education in Blue City than on the quality of public education in Parson City.

Finally, the author asserts that Parson City’s cities differ in the budgetary priority to public education. This is true, but the towns vary only in the amount they give to public schools. Parson City, Blue City, and all other cities in the region provide public schools with funding. All cities give public schools an amount equal to a percentage of their total budgets. Each city’s funding of schools is not based on population but population size. So, even if Blue City and Parson City give different funding levels to public schools, all cities in the region give the same amount of money per student to public schools.

Total
0
Shares
Total
0
Share