Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Are Well-Funded PTAs Widening the Education Inequality Gap?

From KQED's Forum | February 14, 2014

The GGSC's Jeremy Adam Smith appears on "Forum" with former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to discuss the widening income disparity between elementary school PTAs. In San Francisco, PTA fundraising for elementary schools has increased by nearly 800 percent over the past decade, and many local schools raise hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from parents. But where does that leave schools with predominantly low-income students, whose parents may not be able to afford to chip in? Is the disparity in private funding among public schools widening the gap between rich and poor?

“Our work with the GGSC has perhaps had a greater influence on our school than any other initiative in the past five years. The Culture of Care that you helped us to develop has had a huge impact, and we are beginning to see real benefits.”

― Graeme Scott, Deputy Head of School for Learning, International School of Bangkok