Bentonville Schools’ Post

California's public school facilities need our support now more than ever. Equitable funding is crucial to ensure that every child, regardless of their zip code, has access to safe, modern, and effective learning environments. It's time to fundamentally change how school facilities are funded so that all students have access to the facilities they need and deserve to focus on their education. California students urgently need school facility funding from the state to modernize outdated and unsafe facilities. We must pass an education bond this year because there are billions of dollars in unmet needs. In moving forward with a much-needed education bond, however, it is crucial that our state legislature and the Newsom administration first fix the inequitable and unconstitutional system of school facility financing in California. Currently, low-wealth districts receive far less in state facility funding per student compared to their higher wealth counterparts ($7,000 vs. over $300,000)—even though they have greater modernization needs from compounded disinvestment from the state, and less ability to raise local funds. Learn more: 👇 Let's push for fair and adequate funding for all California public schools! Join the movement, spread the word, and let’s make a difference together! #FundOurSchools #EquitableEducation #SupportPublicSchools #CaliforniaEducation #InvestInOurFuture Help create brighter futures for EVERY student in California!

Lynwood Superintendent Gudiel Crosthwaite calls on our state leadership to fundamentally change how school facilities are funded so that all students have access to the facilities they need and deserve to focus on their education. Learn more: 👇 California students urgently need school facility funding from the state to modernize outdated and unsafe facilities. We must pass an education bond this year because there are billions of dollars in unmet needs. In moving forward with a much-needed education bond, however, it is crucial that our state legislature and the Newsom administration first fix the inequitable and unconstitutional system of school facility financing in California. Currently, low-wealth districts receive substantially less state facility funding per student compared to their higher wealth counterparts—even though they have greater modernization needs from compounded disinvestment from the state, and less ability to raise local funds. Through this system, wealthy school districts can build theaters and STEM labs and pools. But low-wealth neighborhoods, who have been historically ignored and underinvested in—who need more funds to meet the needs of their students—are stuck using what funds they have to repair HVAC systems and maintain the conditions of their existing buildings. The result is an unequal and unconstitutional system in which students in low-wealth districts receive an education inferior to that of their peers in higher-wealth districts. Join Public Advocates and impacted students, families, educators, and grassroots community organizations across the state who are urging for an equitable education bond by signing onto our petition: https://lnkd.in/gHnezfTr

Maybe America has too many of the "wrong" types of schools. Instead of indoctrinating students, maybe more schools should go back to focusing on delivering tangible vocational skills that can lead to a certificate in a trade and immediately gain employment afterwards. The shift from vocational education to a college based one was short-sighted and a huge mistake. Yes, manufacturing went overseas in the 80s; however, there was still a need for many vocations. Instead, the shift to promoting a 4 year degree for everyone resulted in administrative bloat at colleges. Administrator employment greatly outpaced faculty growth and student enrollment. As always, it was all about the money. The good news is that more young people are seeing through the charade and are choosing to save money and learn a trade. This new shift should have a ripple effect and bring back the vocational education platform that is sorely needed. This, in turn, will help urban youth gain skills, meaningful employment, and solid compensation. #education #trades #vocationalschool #schools

I was in the first integrated middle school class in Howard County, MD. -- literally 10 years after Brown v. Board of Education. Contrary to popular belief, integration was a gradual and often halting process. You may remember the words in the SCOTUS decision "with all deliberate speed". Public school integration gave rise to private so-called Christian schools to stem the tide of racial reconciliation. After middle school, my parents enrolled me in a predominantly Jewish school, where racism was not as keenly evident. Despite the initial progress made in desegregating schools following Brown, we have seen a steady reversal in recent decades, with schools becoming increasingly segregated once again along racial and socioeconomic lines. The data is stark. This resegregation is not a natural or inevitable phenomenon, but rather the result of specific policies and practices, including the dismantling of court-ordered desegregation plans, discriminatory housing policies that reinforce racial divides, disinvestment in federal programs supporting integration, and legal decisions limiting strategies for fostering diversity. As the UCLA Civil Rights Project warns, we are "betting our educational and social future on inaction" when decades of research shows the immense benefits of integrated schools for all students. The undoing of Brown's promise and the resegregation of American schools is an ominous development that perpetuates racial and socioeconomic inequalities. It demands urgent attention and concerted efforts from policymakers and society to reverse this damaging trend and uphold the ideal of public education as a great equalizer.

It is personal!

This is one of the best discussions of the impact of declining enrollment on schools I've seen lately, and it does a good job of balancing the pros for student experience when schools are smaller with the fiscal realities of an enrollment-based funding system. But one factor often goes ignored in these discussions: as enrollment declines, we have more English learners and students with disabilities. Weighted student formulas should offset this, but does the math really math when you need a certain number of set positions to have a functioning school? Particularly when you need social workers, hard-to-staff teachers, and occupational therapists?

I think it’s inaccurate to surmise that urban schools are empty because of low birth rates, which in turn is the reason for parents to move elsewhere. It’s simply not the case. Parents do not move because of not having children. They move in search of better job opportunities. After the pandemic, inperson jobs fell precipitously. Remote jobs began to gain traction, and parents without the requisite skills began to feel the pain. They have been left with no alternative but to move, move along with their children. There is your problem — the absence of jobs! Lawmakers can stabilize this population by creating jobs, and by offering opportunities to retrain low skilled urban parents for the new digital economy. That’s what would keep them in their school districts, and their children in their schools. This is one way to curb the outflow of kids from urban school districts.

Literacy Leaders out here leading literacy! 

I've been warning about this for years. As of 2024, the fertility rate in the United States is 1.64. The fertility rate is a somewhat difficult number to measure, but can roughly be thought of as the number of children an average woman will give birth to over the course of their lifetime. For a population to remain stable, you need 2.1 children per woman. The population of the US is still increasing, primarily on the basis of the Millennials, which followed a pattern similar to but more muted than the Baby Boomers. The growth rate is the first derivative of the population and is still (barely positive), but the growth acceleration rate, the second derivative, shifted negative about fifteen years ago. Not counting immigration, the US population will peak in about 2040, about 15 years ahead of what was predicted at the turn of the century. Immigration is likely to continue for some time after that, but by 2050 or thereabouts, the same phenomenon will be hitting immigration rates, and it is likely that we'll see signs of that by as soon as 2037 or so. What's worth noting, however, is that immigration for the most part is concentrated in a few key areas - around the southern border with Mexico and northwards to about Colorado, along Florida and the Gulf Coast, and various population groups that are facing wars or similar actions (the number of Ukranians emigrating to the US, mostly the elderly and children) has spiked, not surprisingly). In general, recent immigrants don't immediately impact schools, though the next generation generally is schooled. In many parts of the country, where immigration is usually not an immediate factor, the birth rate differential of -0.46 births is already being felt, with it predicted to exceed -0.5 births within the next decade. This rate of decline would be faster except that woman are having children later in life as in vitro fertilization becomes more widely used, but because this is such a slowly changing number, there is still an open question about how significant the latter effect is. Regardless, the upshot of all of this is that we are looking at a demographic shift that is due to several factors all pointing to a long term (multigenerational) stabilization (and ultimately decline) in population that is already affecting our schools, our workplaces and ultimately our senior years. As with other crises, the effects have occurred slowly at first, but are now becoming noticeable. We probably can't change anything in any meaningful way as far as stopping this (nor, to be honest, would this decline necessarily be a bad thing for humanity) but it does mean that we need to start adapting our institutions to recognize that the status is going to be increasingly non-quo, and that if we expect things to remain the same, we will be guaranteed nothing but disappointment.