By far the biggest obstacle to upward mobility in this prosperous nation is the lousy schools so many poorer kids attend. But neither candidate comes close to a solution. First, there's not nearly enough money. Across America about half of school revenues come from local property taxes. Increasingly, though, Americans are segregating by income in terms of where they choose to live.
Entire towns are now either rich, poor, blue collar, or middle class.
That means poorer districts have lower tax bases, which translates into fewer dollars per pupil. A new analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that most poor students live in districts that spend less per student than their state's average. One in four poor kids receives between 10 and 30 percent less than students from middle-income families. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that poorer schools are more run-down than schools in richer communities, that they have fewer new books, and that their equipment is more outmoded. Their teachers don't earn as much as teachers in richer schools, even though the challenges they face are more formidable.