Is simple equality enough to provide a good education, or should educational institutions be aiming for equity instead?

The concept of educational equity has been in circulation for decades and has been steadily gaining traction in schools and the larger teaching community. Simply put, the idea of educational equity means taking active measures to give every student in the classroom the best chance of success, overcoming barriers - such as racial discrimination or socioeconomic status - that might hold them back.

Students need to learn with technology! Schools have been discovering this since the first big push to put computers into classrooms, in the 1980s, and student technology programs continue to expand and grow to this day. Unfortunately, even if educators understand their importance, technology can often be a hard sell at a budgetary level. If you're trying to talk parents into approving a technology funding bill or property tax, for example, you'll need convincing arguments!

Few school districts have ever struggled with having "too much" money, and budgets are tight most of the time. However, things are particularly bad now. With the coronavirus outbreak continuing to create challenges, schools are having to spend a lot of money on health and safety features - money that probably has to be taken away from other initiatives. This makes it absolutely critical that a district be fiscally responsible, and that is something that every district employee should participate in.

How can schools be more fiscally responsible? Here are some ideas.

It's fairly well-known that the 'modern' school system as we know it in America came into being in the first half of the 20th Century - and there have been surprisingly few updates to its structure and content since. Specific subjects are periodically updated according to new findings, but on the whole, the focus of current education is still largely based on last-century issues. Can we really prepare students for the future when the school system lacks a curriculum focused on 21st century topics?

Are charter schools a good way to create better outcomes for children in school? For a long time, many have said so. Privately owned charter schools, funded from the same coffers as public schools, were supposed to offer competition and alternatives for parents looking for the best learning environment for their children.

However, now, roughly 30 years after the beginning of the movement, charter schools are starting to lose their luster. Many are calling for charter school reform, or even their de-funding. It's a complicated issue, but let's take a look at some of the basic matters under debate.

More than 20 states in the United States allow school districts to install stop-arm cameras on their buses - and Kentucky may be the next to join them. House Bill 189 recently passed the state House, and it seems likely to go on to become law in the near future.

Stop-arm cameras are a popular measure for increasing school bus safety, by penalizing drivers who illegally pass school buses while they are stopped. Children are endangered every time a driver ignores the stop sign, so cutting down on illegal passing is a priority for districts.  

One major school bus safety issue that perhaps doesn't receive enough attention is the problem of overcrowding. When districts are low on buses or drivers, they may end up running their buses with more students onboard than is safe for the vehicle. This is definitely a problem, but it's a problem with complicated causes.

In response, the Maryland House of Reps recently passed a bill explicitly making it illegal to run overcrowded buses. While its creator touts the bill as "common sense," it doesn't seem to actually do much to combat the core problem.

Texas recently made headlines for stepping down its COVID-19 mask requirements. Businesses around the lone star state are no longer mandated to enforce mask-wearing on their premises - but they are still allowed to voluntarily require masks, if they choose.

Electric school buses may be one of the most misunderstood types of alt-fuel buses.  In many ways, they're the safest and cleanest of all the ways you could power a bus, but there is a lot of misinformation out there. Some of the myths used to be true, and some are outright fabrications, but they all may hold districts back from investing in a viable alt-energy system.

If your school district is interested in upgrading to electric school buses, you may get some help in the next few years. The "Clean School Bus Act" has been re-introduced in the House Of Representatives, and would provide over $1 billion dollars in funding to help districts pay for clean-energy bus upgrades.

The bill was first introduced in 2019 by several Democrats in Congress, but due to political tensions at the time, it died in a Senate committee without much action. Now, it has been reintroduced and stands a much better chance of passing. Passage isn't a sure thing - and the government has a lot on its plate at the moment - but if it does pass it could be good news for districts hoping to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.