Report: How donations hurt low-income K-12 students

A study released by the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs points to growing disparities between low-income and high-income school districts due to voluntary donations. The study zeroed in donations made to nonprofit organizations like booster clubs and parent-teacher organizations, and did not include large national foundations or large business donations.
Some of the key findings of the study include that:
- Money raised through nonprofit organizations for K-12 schools grew 350 percent from 1995 to 2010, adjusting for inflation
- The amount of nonprofit school organizations more than tripled from 1995 to 2010
- Though total donations rise for larger schools, the amount per pupil decreases — presenting a disadvantage for urban schools
In Indiana, as in many other states, the money allocated to schools is based on a per-pupil formula that strives to keep funding equal. Donations, the study contends, create a different kind of inequality though that furthers the disadvantages in schools that have a lower income student body.
The study authors say that Indiana schools could come up with a system where nonprofit donations are pooled between all schools districts (some districts in California do this), but the authors admit this could lead to a decrease in donations.
“If you tell parents that their voluntary contributions aren’t going to stay in their local schools, it creates a huge disincentive to engage in voluntary contributions,” study author Ashlyn Aiko Nelson told Indiana Public Media.
Parents and other community organizations who donate to specific schools do it for the right reasons — to fill the gap where funding stops when it comes to their schools. Unfortunately, this puts already-disadvantaged schools at an even greater one.
What do you think the answer is to narrowing the funding gap between low-income and high-income school district?
It’s the age-old dilemma about how to equalize resources between more affluent schools, and disadvantaged ones. Not only do the middle to high class schools get more tax dollars, they also have more parental involvement (and financial stability). We need to find a way to even the playing fields or students who come from disadvantaged areas will continue to be at a disadvantage throughout life.
I don’t know how this is a problem that can be fixed. It’s not fair to redistribute the donations that parents make to the individual schools to other schools. But I do see how it can cause resources to be even more skewed than they already are.
Wow, I have never really thought this much into the funding gap at schools. It’s really not possible, or at least not easy, to level out the funds that schools have. Moving money from one school to another will cause a lot of complaints and unhappy parents. I don’t have any great solutions for this dilemma, but wish there was a way that disadvantage schools could have access to better resources for the students.