Often, the technology they receive cannot support key aspects of their work. Operating budgets also suffer from heavy pressure even before technology is considered. District revenues are not keeping pace with escalating costs. This is often more pronounced in less affluent areas. Property taxes and other taxes that generate fundin g reflecting the wealth of a locality have traditionally been a main source of school funding, although the courts have begun to challenge these methods.
Education has high fixed costs, such as teacher salaries and physical plant operation.
Federal and st ate funds, even those that are meant to address equity issues, often come with prescriptive plans that are counterproductive in some districts and that may cost a district more than it receives. For schools to have the basic budget to support technology, government funding must be appropriate at the local, state and federal levels to ensure continually improving student performance and to cover all mandates levied. Governments looking for money to support school improvements must remember schools are of value to every one in the community, the state and the nation. As society increases its requirement for knowledge-based work, it is clear that uneducated or undereducated individuals will increasingly be unqualified for good jobs. They will pay little tax and may use ma ny public services.