class reaction - April 8

     I think our discussions last night about school funding and school choice were very interesting. The presentation on school funding was especially pertinent after all our recent discussions about Gov. Sanford and his views on the economic stimulus money as well as the Corridor of Shame documentary we watched in Dr. Ferguson's class. It's very disheartening to see the schools on the documentary. Students are going to school in buildings with leaky roofs and broken plumbing. They lack water fountains and many resources we take for granted. Anna brought up an interesting point last night: since all the money from sales tax comes out of "one big pot" and is distributed to various districts in the state, why can't the state do the same thing with property taxes? It makes sense if you think about it, but I do understand where it would make many people angry. School funding is definitely a challenging issue. I think it's terrible to look at the differences between the schools I went to growing up and the schools on the Corridor of Shame documentary. Like Dr. Pope said, they qualify as "minimally adequate," but what does that mean exactly?? I found the Web site where you can sign the petition for a constitutional amendment to change the states "minimally adequate" and replace it with "high quality education." Check it out here.