The education system, as it stands, is flawed in one pretty big way. Currently, teachers, one of the most important parts of the education system, are not getting the correct amount of money that they deserve. If that means schools need more money in order to pay teachers more, then schools also deserve more money.

Teachers deserve more money because they are the reason people get their education, and that education shapes each generation. Some of the most important information children and teenagers learn is through school.

According to the United States Census from 2005 to 2020, 60 percent of Kansas schools funding comes from state sources, while roughly 8 percent comes from federal sources. The last remaining 32 percent comes from local sources like property taxes.

Raising property taxes could be one way to contribute more money to schools, but since most citizens don’t like having higher taxes, adjusting certain taxes should be kept to a minimum. This allows for a slow increase in money without a big uproar from the community.

Another good way to increase a school’s funding would be to adjust how the general fund from the state is calculated. Currently, the formula for the general fund is the base aid of student excellence (BASE) times the weighted full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of a school district.

Since the FTE is adjusted based on the number of students enrolled and other factors such as transportation and special education, that factor of the general fund is not as easy to change. When it comes to the BASE factor however, each year it uses the previous year’s BASE amount plus an amount equal to the average percentage increase in the consumer price index.

As the BASE is adjusted every year, it would be very easy to adjust how much it increases each year, allowing for schools to receive more money. This small change could prevent large changes in the economy, but also allow for schools to have more spending money, and that enables teachers to be paid more.

Teachers should receive about the same amount of pay as an accountant or higher. Just an increase for a beginning teacher from a salary of $40,000 to $50,000 would go a long way. Especially with veteran teachers with a higher degree having a salary change of around $70,000 to $80,000, it could inspire them to continue to help change the world. This increase would probably increase a school’s budget by over $2 million, but if a school had more sources of money, this change shouldn’t be too hard to accommodate.

If teachers stop getting support, and feel that their pay is not enough to continue teaching, it could cause a massive impact on all of society. Teachers are what give future generations the knowledge they need for their future.