To: The United States House of Representatives

Increase Funding for Schools

Increasing funding for school would allow for more stable educational opportunities, bettering the future for millions of students.

Why is this important?

The children of the United States are the future of our country. There are many challenges faced in the K-12 grades for these children and the main challenge is funding. Many of these schools have poor funding and poor student performance, with the future promising more cuts for education. The States’ budgets are providing less funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago.[1] Our schools rely heavily on this funding and these budget constraints are detrimental to our children's education.

Instead of putting money into our next generation’s education, funds are being spent elsewhere and instead being used to balance deficits. Our children are paying for the mistakes that others have made. Many schools all over the country are facing difficult budget cuts, losing valuable teachers along the way.

Even though in 2012, the Obama administration began to offer more flexibility for spending under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), children are still struggling due to the funding. There needs to be a new law that helps to improve the quality of instruction and help to increase outcomes for all students. We urge members of Congress to support our efforts of helping our children with advances in funding for education.

The signatures attached to this letter express the support for our issue. We organized this letter petition through the course we are currently attending. The course is Race and Ethnic Relations and is being taught by Professor Paul Lopez. We are urging you to hear our concerns.
Sincerely,
Erin Hagerty
Brittany Oliphint
Sheena Sandoval
Amanda Pokriots
Christina Tooley

Bibliography
1. Leachman, M. (2014, May 20). Most States Funding Schools Less Than Before the Recession.
2. Yettick, H (2014, May 29). School Spending Increases Linked to Better Outcomes for Poor Students http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/05/29/33finance.h33.html
3. http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9461/index1.html
4. Madland, D and Bunker, N (2011 Nov) Middle-Class Societies Invest More in Public Education. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535649.pdf
5. http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-the-u-s-spend-more-on-education
6. Darinling-Hammond, L (2015 Mar 26) Society Benefits When We Spend More on Education http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/03/26/is-improving-schools-all-about-money/society-benefits-when-we-spend-more-on-education
7. Ehrenfreund, Max (2015, Jan 20) When public schools get more money, students do better https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/01/20/when-public-schools-get-more-money-students-do-better/