Funding for Middle Schools
Funding for middle schools is very much the same as the funding for both primary schools and secondary schools. In fact, in many cases it is hard to distinguish between the funding for middle schools versus that of secondary school or elementary school.
Operational Costs
In the school year of 2010-2011, the total expenditures for public elementary, middle and secondary school in the US was calculated to be $632 billion. This can also be broken down by student, which amounts to $12,608 per student in the public school system. Of that figure, $11,153 were for the operation of elementary, middle and secondary schools alone. For all public schools, there are also costs for capital outlay (including building and property alterations), interest on the school debt, support services, instruction, food services and enterprise operations. While the costs of middle schools are not calculated out separately from elementary and public schools, these figures demonstrate how much public schools really do cost the taxpayers of the United States.
Where Funding Comes From
For all grades from kindergarten to grade twelve, the responsibility of education lies with the states, however there is a national interest as well. The federal government does provide assistance to schools through efforts to supplement state support of public schools. Over recent decades, the elementary, middle and secondary public schools have had increasing revenues, typically around a 19% increase. These years have also seen an increase in student enrollment of about five percent. This has resulted in resources from the federal and local government sources increasing as well. On an average year, the federal government provides 12.7% of public school funding, the state government provides another 43.5% and the local government provides the remaining amount of 43.8%. The state and local governments are considered the primary sources of education funding for all grades from kindergarten to twelve, and always have been.
The federal source of funding dates back to 1965 when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was introduced. The ESEA allows for the grants of library resources, elementary, middle and secondary school programs for those children from low income families, textbooks, education services and centers, education research, professional development for teachers and other materials for instruction.
The funding structure of elementary, middle and secondary schools efforts to ensure that all of the nation’s students have the same access to quality academic opportunities that will prepare them for succeeding in the economy and assuming citizenship responsibilities. These financial efforts are delivered through a “state school funding formula”. Such formulas provide a combination of both local and state revenues to schools, and then they are supplemented with some federal education aid.
Challenges in Funding Middle Schools
Unfortunately the current funding structure does have its limitations. The elementary, middle and secondary schools in some states face the difficulty of educating a large number of students who live in poverty. Some states do not face this challenge but a great many do. The national average of children living in poverty that attend the nation’s public schools is sixteen percent. There are currently nine states who have child poverty rates of at least twenty percent. For example, Washington, D.C and Louisiana both have rates of twenty-five percent and Mississippi is even higher at twenty-six percent. These high numbers of child poverty adds to the challenges that many schools and districts face that other states do not. Often, when there are high child poverty rates, funding needs to be used for additional resources and programming, not just teaching.
