Stimulus money to schools who gift Macbooks

[Hacp]

RANDOLPH, Utah ? Dale Lamborn, the superintendent of a somewhat threadbare rural school district, feels the pain of Utah?s economic crisis every day as he tinkers with his shrinking budget, struggling to avoid laying off teachers or cutting classes like welding or calculus. Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Disparities in Education AidMap Disparities in Education Aid Enlarge This Image George Frey for The New York Times Hugo Herrera in the Rich School District in Utah, a state struggling with school spending cuts.

Just across the border in Wyoming, a state awash in oil and gas money, James Bailey runs a wealthier district. It has a new elementary school and gives every child an Apple laptop. But under the Obama administration?s education stimulus package, Mr. Lamborn, who needs every penny he can get, will receive hundreds of dollars less per student than will Dr. Bailey, who says he does not need the extra money. ?For us, this is just a windfall,? Dr. Bailey said.

In pouring rivers of cash into states and school districts, Washington is using a tangle of well-worn federal formulas, some of which benefit states that spend more per pupil, while others help states with large concentrations of poor students or simply channel money based on population. Combined, the formulas seem to take little account of who needs the money most. As a result, some districts that are well off will find themselves swimming in cash, while some that are struggling may get too little to avoid cutbacks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03...tion/22schools.html?hp

This is a textbook example of government inefficiency. The stimulus money will be wasted on children who get free Macbooks while taxpayers foot the bill. Every penny of stimulus needs to be recovered or else the current graduating generation will be paying higher taxes until we die!

 

[JMapleton]

There will always be examples of mistakes, but on the whole most of it will go to who needs it.

 

[MovingTarget]

This isn't so much an issue caused by the stimulus, but of a longstanding problem of funding inequity between school systems. In my state, some public schools are funded much more than others simply because the districts are wealtheir, and passed additional property/sales tax increases to fund the schools. Because school funding is largely tied to property value assesments, regardless of the student population, these disparities occur. When you throw oil wealth into the picture, as that state did, I can see this occuring. However, what I do not see is some sort of remedy being passed to equalize funding on a per-student basis in any state. If that were the case, no public school would be giving out macbooks. Conversely though, other schools who didn't might just have their air conditioners fixed, roofs replaced, and/or new textbooks purchased to replace old ones. Public educational funding structures are in need of MASSIVE reform with or without the stimulus. No, vouchers do not solve this problem, either.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: MovingTarget
This isn't so much an issue caused by the stimulus, but of a longstanding problem of funding inequity between school systems. In my state, some public schools are funded much more than others simply because the districts are wealtheir, and passed additional property/sales tax increases to fund the schools. Because school funding is largely tied to property value assesments, regardless of the student population, these disparities occur. When you throw oil wealth into the picture, as that state did, I can see this occuring. However, what I do not see is some sort of remedy being passed to equalize funding on a per-student basis in any state. If that were the case, no public school would be giving out macbooks. Conversely though, other schools who didn't might just have their air conditioners fixed, roofs replaced, and/or new textbooks purchased to replace old ones. Public educational funding structures are in need of MASSIVE reform with or without the stimulus. No, vouchers do not solve this problem, either.

We need to get rid of public schools and privatize the whole system. But that is a whole nother topic. Right now, I'm just laughing at all the examples of government inefficiency cropping up.

Did you know that it is estimated that 7% of the stimulus money will be lost to corruption? That is 50 billion of our tax dollars gone.

 

[MovingTarget]

Originally posted by: Hacp
/snip

We need to get rid of public schools and privatize the whole system. But that is a whole nother topic. Right now, I'm just laughing at all the examples of government inefficiency cropping up.

Did you know that it is estimated that 7% of the stimulus money will be lost to corruption? That is 50 billion of our tax dollars gone.

I will strongly disagree with your suggestion about public education, but I won't go into that. Care to start another thread on that topic?

Aside from that, where did you see that estimate? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[jpeyton]

I'm fine with spending money on education.

 

[winnar111]

The wealthy who are about to get taxed to hell and back get a few hundred bucks to buy a laptop?

What horror.

 

[Jaskalas]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I'm fine with spending money on education.

In that case, we need to label a lot more things as educational.

 

[MotF Bane]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I'm fine with spending money on education.

Did you even read the article, troll? Clearly not.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I'm fine with spending money on education.

Did you even read the article, troll? Clearly not.

He's a fine example of how public education has failed us all.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Hacp
-snip-
This is a textbook example of government inefficiency.

Yep.

And I predict we'll see lots and lots of these examples as the results of the hurriedly written stim package unfolds.

Hurry Up, Lets Pass the Budget and other bills!!! No need to read it, just sign.

Fern

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: Hacp

Originally posted by: MovingTarget
This isn't so much an issue caused by the stimulus, but of a longstanding problem of funding inequity between school systems. In my state, some public schools are funded much more than others simply because the districts are wealtheir, and passed additional property/sales tax increases to fund the schools. Because school funding is largely tied to property value assesments, regardless of the student population, these disparities occur. When you throw oil wealth into the picture, as that state did, I can see this occuring. However, what I do not see is some sort of remedy being passed to equalize funding on a per-student basis in any state. If that were the case, no public school would be giving out macbooks. Conversely though, other schools who didn't might just have their air conditioners fixed, roofs replaced, and/or new textbooks purchased to replace old ones. Public educational funding structures are in need of MASSIVE reform with or without the stimulus. No, vouchers do not solve this problem, either.

We need to get rid of public schools and privatize the whole system. But that is a whole nother topic. Right now, I'm just laughing at all the examples of government inefficiency cropping up.

Did you know that it is estimated that 7% of the stimulus money will be lost to corruption? That is 50 billion of our tax dollars gone.

Our government can do a lot better than 7%, I'm thinking 10-15%

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: Budmantom

Originally posted by: Hacp

Originally posted by: MovingTarget
This isn't so much an issue caused by the stimulus, but of a longstanding problem of funding inequity between school systems. In my state, some public schools are funded much more than others simply because the districts are wealtheir, and passed additional property/sales tax increases to fund the schools. Because school funding is largely tied to property value assesments, regardless of the student population, these disparities occur. When you throw oil wealth into the picture, as that state did, I can see this occuring. However, what I do not see is some sort of remedy being passed to equalize funding on a per-student basis in any state. If that were the case, no public school would be giving out macbooks. Conversely though, other schools who didn't might just have their air conditioners fixed, roofs replaced, and/or new textbooks purchased to replace old ones. Public educational funding structures are in need of MASSIVE reform with or without the stimulus. No, vouchers do not solve this problem, either.

We need to get rid of public schools and privatize the whole system. But that is a whole nother topic. Right now, I'm just laughing at all the examples of government inefficiency cropping up.

Did you know that it is estimated that 7% of the stimulus money will be lost to corruption? That is 50 billion of our tax dollars gone.

Our government can do a lot better than 7%, I'm thinking 10-15%

LOL... sad but true... and you prolly underestimated it. :laugh: