Other factors - school funding

After talking to Lolita (see post 6/1/09), I started to think about the "other factors" that had kept the students at the Tolton Center from succeeding in the traditional school setting.

[Latesha]

Latesha stopped going to high school during her senior year when she got sick with pneumonia. Although she says she kept track of her schoolwork with the help of a tutor, one month before graduation she received the news that she was missing half a credit to graduate. She didn't have the option of making up the credit during summer school. If she wanted that half credit, she would have to do an entire year of school. Discouraged, she dropped out.

She went back to school to get her GED so that she can become a registered nurse. “You have to have [your GED]. Not having it stopped me from getting jobs that I want.”

She also wants to inspire her kids to stay in school. “I want them to see a strong woman in me.”


It is ridiculous that Latesha, now an intelligent and dedicated student, had to drop out of high school because she was missing half a credit to graduate. With little funding for summer school programs, some public schools are limited to only offering core courses (English, math, science, etc.) in summer school. If a student needs to make up a half credit in music or art, she will have to do so during the regular school year. Lack of school funding in low-income neighborhoods plays a decisive role in determining the educational paths of students. Furthermore, because public schools are partly funded through property taxes, primarily African Americans and other minorities suffer the consequences of this discriminatory school funding policy. In one of the public high schools in West Garfield Park, for example, 94.8% of the students were considered "low-income" and 91.4% of the students were African American (Chicago Public Schools). Low-income communities made up mostly of minorities don't have the funding to adequately support their children through their K-12 school years.