Chapter 12 Education Poverty and Crime State and Local Efforts Conservatives view criminal behavior as evidence of a character fault Liberals note that criminals are overwhelmingly uneducated and poor argue it is from society s failure to meet the needs of many forcing them into a life of crime Agreement on belief that some crimes must be punished as offenses against society murder rape most violent crimes o Liberal likely to forgive those who have repaid society for criminal acts perhaps grant a second chance o Conservative see individual as faulty unlikely to do so Three strikes you re out Poverty o Conservatives see those living as poverty as having failed to make effort necessary to have a job pay their own way See people on welfare as lazy o Liberal views poverty as a failure of society o Both Belief that some are poor through no fault of their own Society should show compassion towards children severely handicapped and the elderly Public education individuals o Liberal believes public education offers society the leverage needed to change Grants opportunity for a good life Poor success in education society s failure o Conservative accepts need for public educational opportunities as benefit to society If individual doesn t take advantage of it fault rests with individual State Efforts in Education Poverty and Crime State local government devote nearly half of their expenditures to providing education and protection from crime o Has not ended poverty or stopped crime Figure 12 1 graph of SAT Verbal Math o Overall trend is sharp decline until 1980 for both o Verbal increased through mid 1980s and declined to lowest level in 1991 Since modest increase in verbal o Math increasingly consistent from 1980 declining since 2003 but still above verbal No Child Left Behind o Lets states choose their own methods of measuring educational achievement and choose which children should be measured o Good idea doesn t always seem that effective Poverty o 2009 family of four with income below 22 050 was defined as living in poverty o Great reduction from 1960 to 1969 overall poverty dropped from 22 to 12 Improvement followed a series of policy changes proposed by Kennedy the New Frontier and Johnson the Great Society Period of great expansion of American economy o 1 3 million in terms of those living in poverty o Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanics are higher than for Anglo and Asians Rates for blacks Hispanics have become lower over time o Figure 12 4 graph of Poverty Rates by Age Major change since 1965 Shift from older to the younger Due to taxpayer discontent with welfare programs to support those in poverty resulted in poverty being shifted from those who have paid taxes for many years to those who have paid for fewer years or no years at all Poverty rate cut in half 1966 to 1973 Age 65 and Older used to be highest now they re lowest and Under 18 is highest o Poverty transferred to those with highest voter turnout to lowest and to those too young to vote o Aid for Families with Dependent Children was abolished in favor of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families TANF o Periods of prosperity do not reduce poverty Crime o Long term trend is upward o Figure 12 5 Crime Rates Since 1960 Property crime much greater than violent crime rates Current decline in property plateau of violent Figure 12 6 A Figure 12 6B Figure 12 6C o Education and Poverty o Strong negative 73 o TX close to regression line Low completion of high school higher poverty o Education and Crime o Negative 37 o Low completion of high school higher crime o Poverty and Crime o Positive 31 o Higher poverty rate higher crime rate Differences among the States on These Policies Correlations alone do not provide sufficient evidence of casual relationships o Although there are empirical linkages between education poverty and crime Coping with Education Poverty and Crime Education Educational reforms stress on math and science when Soviet Union put its sputnik into orbit US one of least centralized education systems in the world American states are central actors in higher public education Every state has maximizing high school graduation rate as central education policy goal Figure 12 7 High School Completion and Bachelor s Degree o Positive 45 o TX lowest high school completion rate in nation Also has largest of students who drop out before completion 29 states rank higher than TX No Child Left Behind program put in place in TX earlier o Emphasize standardized test scores as a measure of educational achievement Separate testing standards for higher lower performing students o Evaluate schools districts based on test results o Offer financial incentives to schools for improving test scores o Financial penalties for those not improving scores o Offer prospect that students at poorly performing schools may relocate to better performing schools o Provide insufficient funding from a more central government o Do not require funding threshold from more local governments Local schools see TX federal education reforms as unfunded mandates o Conservatives believe increased funding is not always necessary for success doesn t guarantee success Figure 12 8A o Contemporary 2006 Educational Expenditures and High School Completion o NO RELATIONSHIP 24 between K 12 education spending and outcomes Meaning higher expenditures per K 12 students does not mean higher graduation rates Figure 12 8B Figure 12 9A o Lagged 1980 o NO RELATIONSHIP 36 slightly stronger than 2006 o Contemporary Cost of Higher Education and Higher Education Degrees o 2006 o STRONG POSITIVE 55 Where students pay more have more college graduates Contemporary relationships are not the proper relationships to study Spending more on education produces no results Federal government has taken the lead in developing welfare programs aimed at reducing poverty o Best funding programs partnership between federal and state governments o Federal establishes framework of eligibility and benefit rules provides baseline level of funding o State adjusts eligibility and benefit rules and supplementing federal contributions with state resources No federal OR state Department of Poverty Largest welfare program by expenditures Medicaid o Provides medical care for those who cannot afford it 2nd largest program SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program o Helps low income people families buy food similar to ATM card Poverty 3rd largest TANF o Provides money directly to the poor
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