Monday Ramblings

I'm taking a day off from my usual health diary to talk about an interesting debate I had with a co-worker on the state of public education. In California each School District is funded based on the property values of the neighborhood. This means that in wealthy areas students get the best books and facilities and teachers. It also means there are poor schools where students are sharing books that are twenty years old in classrooms that are falling apart. I suggested that instead of basing school funding off the property values of each neighborhood that funding should be equitable statewide and based on the number of students each school has. That way there would be no inherent discrimination. My co-worker told me that is "socialism" and she did not feel she should have to pay to make sure all kids are given the same opportunities at an education. Her attitudes was kind of like "Why should we have to pay for them?" This from someone who has no children and already pays for the rich kids in Westlake Village! I guess my frustration with this is that there seems to be an attitude that poor people are responsible for their own circumstances so they deserve what they have. When we are talking about education though it seems most people would realize that children have no control over where they live rich or poor so why should there be a disparity in the education they receive. It's not like I'm suggesting we raise taxes, just make sure that the taxes that are collected are spread around more equally. So this is where I ask for your opinion. Is the current system fair? (Yes I know life is not fair) Is my suggestion socialism? Is my co-worker right? What's your opinion?