Hanna Schmidt

Mrs. Shank

Teacher Academy

2 November 2020

Chapter 1

1.2 Decision Making in Education Systems

2.2.7 Identify how decisions are made in education systems.

There are many decisions made within the education system. The education system

decision making process is grouped into three categories, Federal, State and Local. The purpose

of the three decision making categories is to equalize education for all students.

The Federal level is responsible for creating a budget each year, as well as, enforcing

laws/acts regarding government run schools. For example, the Federal Government enforced the

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB was initially proposed by President George W. Bush

in 2001, and it was implemented during the years of 2002-2015. NCLB was specific to k-12

education all across the United States. The stakeholders of this act were students of poverty and

minorities, those receiving special services, and those not fluent in english. Its purpose was to

create equal educational opportunities for all, and to hold schools accountable for the learning,

growth and achievement of their students. Through the act, students participated in annual testing

in math and reading. All students were expected to be brought up to the proficient level on these

subjects. A negative affect of NCLB was it became controversial. This was because it had the

potential to result in punishment for schools who failed to show improvement. However, on a

positive note, NCLB was very inclusive and flexible. It allowed school districts to decide how
they used federal education funds, and it encouraged research-based education. This information

can be found in the evidence attached (evidence 1.2.1).

The State level deals with the distribution of school funding and curriculum. They also

create additional education standards for schools to meet. The State level’s goal is to find ways

to compete for the federal funding grants. One way many States do so is by applying the

Common Core Curriculum. As of now, 44 states (and D.C.) have chosen to follow the Common

Core State Standards (evidence 1.2.2). In addition to the federal grants, states get funding from

taxes. In Ohio, property taxes help build school funding. Property taxes are paid by property

owners, and the stakeholders of property tax are those who live within a school district and own

land (evidence 1.2.3). The pros and cons of property tax are determined by those willing to pay

them. People who have students attending school within the area are more likely to agree to a

raise in property taxes while those who don’t, are not.

Lastly, at the Local level, each school district is run by a board of education. School

boards create policies. For example, dress code, school calendars, and back to school plans are

all created by the school board. The Olentangy board of education consists of five people, two of

which are the president and vice president. The school board president is elected, and their job is

to create the meeting agendas and serve as the board spokesperson. While the superintendent

attends the board meetings, they are not a member of the school board. The school board governs

while the superintendent administers the school/district (evidence 1.2.4). As a part of building

my knowledge on the education decision making process, I watched an Olentangy school board

meeting. The meeting agenda is attached (evidence 1.2.5). At the start of the meeting, attendance

was taken and the pledge was said. Then, a brief overview of the meeting was given by the board

president. The attendees of the meeting were the five members of the school board, the
Superintendent, the Director of Transportation (Lori Carter Evans), the Chief Operations Officer

(Todd Meyer), and the Director of Data and Continuous Improvement (Jeanette Kenney). The

meeting was focused around three topics, transportation, staffing, and the state report card. That

said, the stakeholders of the meeting were students in the district, those who ride buses, parents

of students who attend OLSD schools, and people employed by the district (including bus

drivers). One of the main decisions talked about during the meeting was bussing. This means the

specific stakeholders of the decision were bus riders and their parents. The board decided to

continue to make bus registration required for the upcoming school years. The pros of this

decision are more accurate bus routes and reasonable student capacity. A con to this decision is

that students who do not register for bus riding may not have access to the transportation

provided by the school (evidence 1.2.6). The meeting was wrapped up with the reports from the

board president, the superintendent, and the treasurer.

As a whole, equalized decision making is needed in the education system, and the three

levels of government are an effective way to execute that. Each level of government has their

own involvement in the decision making process, and as a result, the system is kept balanced.