guidetotheeducationsystemintheunitedstates.PDF

GUIDE TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES BY ANTONELLA CORSI-BUNKER AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM: AN OVERVIEW General Information The American education system is unlike that in many other countries. Though the U.S. Federal government contributes almost 10% to the national education budget, education is primarily the responsibility of state and local government. For example, in Minnesota, almost 80 percent of public education funds come from state sources. About 17 percent comes from local sources, while less than 5 percent comes from the Federal government. Every State has its own department of education and laws regulating finance, the hiring of school personnel, student attendance, and curriculum. States also determine the number of years of compulsory education: in most states, education is compulsory from five or six to sixteen; but in some states teens have to stay on in school until age 18. So, every state has great control over what is taught in its schools and over the requirements that a student must meet, and it is also responsible for the funding of schooling. In most States, the public education system is further divided into local school districts, which are managed by a school board, representing the local community. School districts can be small, covering just a small town or rural county, or enormous, covering a whole large city; according to their local policy, they are responsible for coordinating education policies, planning for changing educational needs in the community, and often even establishing programs and curricula. They will also delegate a varying amount of freedom or independence to each individual school within their sector (with some exceptions, such as general rules concerning health and safety). Public schools have also relied heavily on local property taxes to meet the vast majority of school e