John T.

Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 1
Assignment # 4: Education Equity

Review four school resources that align with your current research interests and Darling-

Hammonds article regarding teaching and learning. Post at least a 700 word response citing

those four resources, Darling-Hammonds article while answering the following questions using

specific references:

1. What are two main fiscal points in her article?

2. How does this relate to the resources you researched this week?

3. Why is it important for educational leaders to consider these concerns?

4. What next steps can you take at your school site today to further financial equity for all?

Linda Darling-Hammonds article Securing the Right to Learn: Policy and Practice for

Powerful Teaching and Leaning (2006) is focused on inequity in school funding and the need for

a more democratic education system with policies that focus on promoting powerful and

equitable teaching and learning in schools. Specifically, Darling-Hammond makes the case that

inefficient and inequitable funding of education is causing inequitable access to qualified

teachers and resources. As well, Ms. Darling-Hammond points out that these inequities are

leaving students in financially inadequate schools less prepared for the work force and thus

limiting their ability to find jobs. Ms. Darling-Hammond utilizes data to demonstrate the link

between said lack of an equitable education and preparation for the work force and the growing

prison population.

Decentralized policy making and funding, according to Darling-Hammond, help create an

inequitable situation wherein funding for schools becomes localized and thus dependent on
John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 2
property taxes and state revenues. These in turn create a discrepancy between school funding in

high and low income and property value areas with funding for schools in low income areas

being significantly lower than those in higher income communities. The case is also made by

Darling-Hammond that race and ethnicity are factors that contribute to the inequitable funding

and levels of education as well. The result of this is that the students most in need of education

(low income and racial/ethnic minority students) are not receiving the same and/or adequate

levels of education as those in higher income/property value areas and/or areas with greater

political clout. This is a great issue because as indicated by the California Budget Project,

Economically disadvantaged students and English learners generally require additional

resources to achieve the states academic standards. (Kaplan, 2013, p. 7) Additionally, lower

income and minority students are not being provided with the same learning opportunities, skills,

courses (college preparatory), materials, and knowledge needed to be prepared and competitive

in the current job market. A job market that Darling-Hammond notes can no longer absorb

unskilled workers at decent wages. (Darling-Hammond, 2006, p. 10) Darling-Hammond

further explains that the lack of education is increasingly linked to crime and welfare

dependency. (2006, p. 10) This being the case, it is then easy to see how inequitable funding

lends itself to keeping low income populations and areas essentially stuck in a cycle of poverty

and crime. The result of this is a marked increase in crime rates and states such as California and

Massachusetts spending more on prisons than on education.

The symptom of inequitable educational funding which Darling-Hammond focusses on is

the lack of qualified and effective teachers at schools that are predominantly lower income

and/or schools which service racial/ethnic minority students. Darling-Hammond notes that

teachers in these schools are often emergency hires without credentials or new teachers with little
John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 3
to no experience. This in turn leads to a lack of quality and effective curriculum and instruction.

This then becomes a simple lesson in economics. If the country is not willing to focus on

funding and investing in education, then funds for schools and qualified educators will continue

to be scarce. If funding is not available to adequately compensate properly and well educated

teachers and personnel, then schools will struggle to compete against other fields and industries

to hire and retain competent employees. As any educator, will attest to, no one goes into

teaching for the vast economic possibilities, but at the same time when educators are faced with

wages that do not match the effort put into the profession it is no wonder they feel

undercompensated and many leave the profession. This is exasperated by the inefficient

localized property tax based funding system which currently exist and inequitably disperses

funds so that schools with predominantly poor and minority students are receiving even less.

To emphasize this, one only needs to look at the current (and projected) teacher shortage

crisis. Recently, the Learning Policy Institute (also headed by Darling-Hammond) released a

report that indicated a need for a projected 300,000 new teachers a year. (Sutcher, Darling-

Hammond, Carter-Thomas, 2016). Building on this evidence, an Edsource article recently noted

that the United States is experiencing the worst shortage of teachers since 1990. (Leal, 2016).

This should not come as a shock though, and as stated before, it is a basic economic lesson; lack

of funding leads to lower salaries and worsening conditions of schools which in turn leads to less

qualified personal seeking positions in the field. In short, districts will only get what they pay

for. Again, this is exasperated in schools and districts that already are inequitably underfunded.

As a fellow teacher told just before he taught his last year at the local public high school, I can

longer afford to teach.

John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 4
In Securing the Right to Learn: Policy and Practice for Powerful Teaching and Leaning

(2006), Darling-Hammond indicates that one way for educational leaders and schools to combat

the lack of qualified educators in schools with low income and minority students is to change

government policy and ensure that all teachers can get access to high quality training (2006, p.

16). As well Darling-Hammond notes that by properly preparing and supporting educators

through programs such as PACT, that it is possible to increase education rates in all schools. To

assist in this process, she points out the need to for the government to assist educators financially

as well using the examples of high achieving nations such as Finland which provide not just

better funding and teacher support programs, but also subsidize the cost of teacher education.

This is an idea echoed by Ama Nyamekye in her Edsource article Teachers must be partners in

shaping education policies. In this article Nyamekye argues that teacher should be pushing for

reform from within and should be calling on the Legislature to offer incentives to encourage

teaching candidates to complete their teacher preparation programs and teach in hard-to-staff or

struggling schools. These incentives could include higher starting salaries or bonuses, additional

support and collaboration time, job-embedded professional development, public recognition and

more opportunities for highly effective teachers to both teach and lead. (Nyamekye, 2017).

An example of one such incentive that has been created in response to the teacher shortage is the

$20 million dollars in state grants that were provided in 2016 to twenty-five California school

districts to help subsidize tuition costs for classified employees who are seeking bachelors

degrees and teaching credentials. (Leal, 2016)

As the inequities of school funding in California and many other states continues, it will

likely continue to have negative effects such as the teacher shortages, rise in crime rates, etc. All

of these as Darling-Hammond points out are draws on our society and ultimately the finances of
John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 5
the state and the country. Unfortunately, it will most likely cause additional strain on

educational leaders as well as they will continue to have to work with strained budget, shortages

of qualified personnel and tough decisions.

John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 6
Resources

Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Securing the right to learn: policy and practice for powerful

teaching and learning. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 13-24.

O i:10.3102/0013189x035007013

Kaplan, J. (2013, May). Moving forward: addressing inequities in school finance through the

governors local control funding formula . Retrieved January 29, 2017, from

http://calbudgetcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/130509_MovingForward.pdf

California Budget Project

Leal, F. (2016, December 20). State awards $20 million in grants to help more school employees

become teachers. Retrieved January 29, 2017, from https://edsource.org/2016/state-

awards-20-million-in-grants-to-help-more-school-employees-become-teachers/574511

Leal, F. (2016). State's teacher shortage hitting 'alarming rates' for 2016-17, new survey says.

Retrieved January 29, 2017, from https://edsource.org/2016/states-teacher-shortage-

hitting-alarming-rates-for-2016-17-new-survey-says/573497

Nyamekye, A. (2017, January 20). Teachers must be partners in shaping education policies.

Retrieved January 29, 2017, from https://edsource.org/2017/teachers-want-to-partner-

with-policymakers-to-help-students/575570

Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016, September 15). A Coming
Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply, Demand, and Shortages in the U.S. Retrieved
January 29, 2017, from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/coming-crisis-
teaching-brief
John T. Davis
January 29nd 2017
EDAD 616 B (02)- School Finance and Resource Allocation 7

Response to Dana Gaudet,

Dana, thank you for your posting. I found another article called A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher
Supply, Demand, and Shortages in the U.S. (https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/coming-
crisis-teaching-brief) by Darling-Hammond and Sutcher that discussed the teacher shortage as well.
The recommendations made in that article were similar and consisted of
1. Create competitive, equitable compensation packages that allow teachers to make a
reasonable living across all kinds of communities.
2. Enhance the supply of qualified teachers into high-need fields and locations through targeted
training subsidies and high-retention pathways. In critical shortage fieldsmathematics,
science, special education, and bilingual/ESL education, and in urban and rural areas with
perennial shortagesschools dont just need more teachers, they need more teachers who will
spend lasting teaching careers in those fields and locations. Increasing access to strong teacher
preparation can increase the pipeline of qualified, committed teachers to high-need positions.
However, becoming well prepared should be affordable.
3. Improve teacher retention, especially in hard-to-staff schools, through improved mentoring,
induction, working conditions, and career development. If a teacher receives mentoring,
collaboration, and extra resources, and is part of a strong teacher network, first-year turnover is
cut by more than half (from 41% to 18%).(42) But just 3% of beginning teachers had such a
comprehensive set of supports in 2012.(43) In addition, school working conditionsincluding
access to resources, administrative support, collegial opportunities, teacher input in decision-
making, and pressure related to accountability measuresstrongly influence teachers choices
to continue teaching in their schools.
4. Develop a national teacher supply market that can facilitate getting and keeping teachers in the
places they are needed over the course of their careers. The federal government can provide
labor market data and analyses for federal, state, and local planning.

In the article, the authors insist that by following through with these concepts, it could save the country
up to $8 billion dollars annually in wasted costs such as replacing teachers and offering remedial
classes. From an economics standpoint this seems like investing a little more upfront to save a lot more
in the back end. Unfortunately it seems education funding will always be tied to political policies and as
politicians and policy makers juggle budgets it seems they are often short cited and the result is as
Darling-Hammonds article points out we end up spending more on the negative effects like prisons and
welfare. However, as reactionary as politicians seem to be, maybe this teacher shortage will be a
wakeup call to invest in education the same way we invest in the military and other high price areas of
the nations budget.