Fair Student Funding –Easier Said Than Done

Is fair necessarily equal? Baltimore School of the Arts receives more funding than other high schools. No doubt, they use their money well and those select few who are admitted benefit greatly from the extra programs and equipment that money buys. But with a budget deficit looming, extra money dedicated to BSA inevitably means a loss for more disadvantaged students throughout the district. Alonzo has stated that the central office will continue to provide the increased funding for “flagship” programs such as the Baltimore School of the Arts. It’s the right choice but it’s not fair.

It gets tougher. Imagine two public high schools. One serves a population at an 80% FARMs rate while the other has just 20% FARMs. Should they be equally funded? Alonzo believes that the wealth or poverty of students should not factor into the equation but perhaps achievement should. So a student performing at the 10th percentile receives more funding at the expense of the student at the 90th percentile. Fair? As of March 20th, the district has not decided. Alonzo has made it clear however, that if there is to be a funding bias towards lower achieving students, the measure of low performance should only apply to students as they enter a school. Otherwise, the district would create a financial disincentive for increasing achievement.

I absolutely agree with the decentralization of the Baltimore City School District and the idea of fair student funding. But neither the centralized or decentralized model of our school district will provide truly “fair” student funding. It is a subjective term and in the end someone will get more at the expense of another.