School funding is an issue that has profound impacts on students’ education and outcomes. Yet, few of us are familiar with how the funding system works. Without knowledge, we surrender our voice, our power, in determining how economic resources are distributed across schools. In fact, funding inequities persist under our current formula, the Fair Student Funding (FSF), but recently there has been more conversations at the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) on how to improve equity in school funding. We can take back our power when we are educated and active in these discussions. To my fellow students, as the greatest stakeholders, I implore you to research then advocate for more accountability, accessibility, and equitable funding.
This website is created by a high school student who is conducting Participatory Action Research (PAR) with her team on school funding in NYC. She is grateful to her qualitative research teacher for guiding the team on how to thoroughly examine an issue, then taking steps to contribute their research for change. She is also obliged to her Tech Scholars mentor at the New-York Historical Society for advising her design process and debugging her code.