Inclusion or Exclusion? The ESL Education Debate

Through President Obama’s stimulus plans, public schools across the country are gearing up for a new source of income. Subsequently, many community members are wondering how their local schools will choose to spend the new funds. According to national reports, many schools are choosing to spend their stimulus money in unique, and much needed ways.

Public Education Stimulus Package

As AJC News reports, public schools across the country are being provided with an incredibly large stimulus check to boost school and student performance. Specifically, the new public school stimulus package is designed to provide specialized support and assistance to schools serving special education students, homeless children, and lower-income families with children. With these focus areas, the package has set aside approximately $712 million dollars for public schools.

As schools debate ways to most effectively use the funds, the United States Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, asserts that school leaders should strive to think in new, different, and creative ways. For example, as AJC further reveals, “Schools can spend the money on one-time expenses —- such as teacher training or technology aides for students with disabilities —- that can have long-term benefits for student learning.”

This video reports on President Obama's Race to the Top program.

In analyzing the funds set aside to initiate new and improved programs, The Salt Lake Tribune reveals that, in addition to directly targeted funding

Whether our economy is growing or declining, high school prom is almost always guaranteed to be a costly event. With the price of tickets, the cost of renting a suit, buying a dress, paying for hair appointments, and even hiring fancy transportation, students often shell out hundreds of dollars for this ultimate high school dancing celebration.

To provide students who are struggling to scrounge up the cash for all of the prom’s accouterments, many schools and leaders are creating programs and groups to stimulate community-wide support. As prom allows soon to be graduates to celebrate their long paths of education, many school leaders assert that the students should be rewarded for their efforts without worrying over how to pay for all of the costs.

This video offers suggestions on how to save money prom expenses.

The Price for Prom

As proms have become increasingly more extravagant over the years, the price for students desiring to attend has similarly soared to often outrageous heights. As USA Today reports in their article, “Prom Costs HOW Much?”, many families are struggling to afford all of prom’s “necessities.” According to USA Today, a single night of prom can cost around $400 to even $3,000 and up! According to the report, students tend to add items to the prom tab that include:

• $90 to $150 for transportation
• $10 to $125 (and up) for prom tickets
• $25 to $100 on cameras and photography
• $70 to $250 on a rental tuxedo
• $150 to $500 (and up) for

School vouchers have been a controversial debate among community members and educators for more than a decade – and there are no signs of the debate simmering.

Vouchers are essentially a form of “tax scholarship” for public school students, wherein the educational tax (which typically is given directly to public schools) can be used to pay for alternative forms of education. With the voucher approach, taxes allow parents to send their children to a school of their choice; this money can even be used for private schools.

While many parents and educators believe that vouchers give students the freedom to seek out better educational opportunities, other individuals and experts assert that vouchers simply deprive struggling schools of receiving much-needed funding for improvement. With this great debate, one must question: are vouchers destroying or saving our public schools?

This video from NPR explains how vouchers work.

How Do Vouchers Work?

As public schools rely upon tax dollars for funding, each student who attends a public school is “worth” a certain amount of tax dollars. Each public school district or county is provided with a different “tax worth” for their students, which is determined in elections by community members.

For example, “District A” schools may receive $5,000 per student (annually), while “District B” may only be provided with $4,000 per student (annually). If “District A” is provided with more money and funding for each

The debate over sex education in public schools has now been extended to the question of what schools should do after students choose to have sex.

According to recent reports, teen pregnancy is on the rise across the entire country. In fact, as Martinsville Bulletin reports in “Teen Birth Rates Soar,” the national birth rate among teens aged 15 to 19 has increased by 1.4 percent from 2006 to 2007. In total, this equates to 42.5 births for every 1,000 females in this age group.

With the rising rate of teenage pregnancy, many communities are being forced to debate over whether or not public schools should provide day care programs for teen parents. Many teenage parents, especially teenage moms, choose to drop out upon giving birth to their child. Therefore, some leaders assert that public school daycare programs can help decrease the propensity for some teen parents to not reach graduation. On the other side of the argument, many public leaders and community members believe that day care only encourages irresponsible sexual choices.

The Pros of Public School Day Care

As the Martinsville Bulletin further reveals, in areas of lower income and employment rates, teenage pregnancy rates tend to rise. For example, Henry County, located in Virginia, experienced a startling increase from 33.8 children for every 1,000 females to 40.9 children for every 1,000 females (under the age of 20) over the course of just