Public School Funds

 The following appeared in a letter to the editor of Parson City's local newspaper.

"In our region of Trillura, the majority of money spent on the schools that most students attend — the city-run public schools — comes from taxes that each city government collects. The region's cities differ, however, in the budgetary priority they give to public education. For example, both as a proportion of its overall tax revenues and in absolute terms, Parson City has recently spent almost twice as much per year as Blue City has for its public schools — even though both cities have about the same number of residents. Clearly, Parson City residents place a higher value on providing a good education in public schools than Blue City residents do."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The letter has been presented to the editor of the Parson City’s local newspaper so it is our responisbility to double check and find evidence to reinforce the claim that the residents of Parson City do in fact place a higher priority on education than the residents of Blue City. The region Trillura is organised for each city to handle it’s own budget and this allows for any city planner to organize based on the beliefs held by the representatives of the city. So the claim might very well be true but it would appear less sketchy if certain proofs are accompanied along with spending amount.

For example, does double the spending on the city-run public schools in Parson city actually churn out better skilled and better equipped personnel? If the higher spending does in fact pay off with more idealistic students then Parson city can be lauded for their appropriate allocation of required funds and be considered superior. However, without proper transparency, and cost efficiency, we cannot discern that all of the allocated tax money is being put to the best of use. Maybe there is frivolous spending or corruption, without lucid listing declaration of legitimacy in the usage of these funds, it does not reflect the residents view on the decision on public schools.

Furthermore, the people of Parson City should be enrolled in a survey to both be informed and interrogated about such a practice. Then and only then can we conclude on the opinion of the public. Without cited sources and surveys, generalizing on a public opinion can be harmful and bolster practices and misunderstandings in the operations of city hall. If the people do not understand or do not recognise the implications of such spendings they should be made aware and if they are not witness to an education standard that reflects the amount, then they should be able to raise their voices about it.

A lot can be discerned about the budget from the residents themselves too. If the residents of Parson City have a higher income and influence then of course they have the necessary funds to spare for public schools. Even if the residents of Blue City value education they aren’t able to sustain such an amount due to differences in the amount of funds that is available to both cities. Only one statistics of fixed amount spent on a commodity can hardly reflect the viewpoint of an entire population of a city. Additionally, the age range and demographic of both cities, would help ascertain what influences the economies of both cities and the budgetary priority for both of the same.

The several evidences listed above would help reaffirm the stance taken by the writer of the letter and help the editor decide on the legitimacy of the content. It may be true what is stated at a superficial level but may not reflect the entire truth. If anything, it might help shed light on many other problems faced by both the residents of Parson City and Blue City. The region of Trillura, could overall better itself too, by centralising the best course of action, after all central or federal assistance always boosts any bill or provision. The concept of higher spending would generally help the residents and future of any city, but only when it is combined with efficient models and management will all the resources be made of properly and help people truely value a good education in our public schools. Unmistakably, it is essential for residents to believe so and allocate more and more resources to such facilities.