You are the new superintendent for Alpha City Public Schools. The previous superintendent had held that position for 27 years. Over the last 30 years, the community has changed from a small city with a suburban upper-middle-class community to a connected part of two cities. As the communities grew together to form one large urban area—a megalopolis—problems associated with urban settings entered the community.

Table 9.4 shows the funding sources for the district over the last 30 years. Table 9.5 illustrates the demographics of the school district.

The city has a relatively strong tax base, but some industries have talked about moving to the suburbs directly to the north or south for the better school systems. Such a move would severely and negatively impact the local economy. The local governing body is evenly split about raising additional funds for the local schools.

The previous superintendent was a “status quo” manager who believed that the five new schools built during his tenure were his legacy. The central office staff has almost no leadership capacity, initiating virtually no new curricular programs in the past 15 years. Staff development consists of a motivational speaker to start the school year. Half the school board and half the city council members want you to lead the campaign to improve the schools and save the local economy. The other half is complacent, believing that everything is fine the way it is.

Moreover, you have received information from the local health department that the incidence of teenage pregnancy has increased from almost zero in 1985 to 114 in 2015 and is projected to include up to 8% of females in grades 8–12 by 2022 unless an effective intervention is undertaken.

Given these data and your knowledge of school finance and demographics, what plan of action would you pursue as the new superintendent? Specifically, as you examine the revenue sources for the school system in Table 9.4, what trends do you see? Has the local revenue share been maintained appropriately?

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TABLE 9.4 Revenue Sources for Alpha City Public Schools Revenue Source 1995 (%) 2005 (%) 2015 (%) 2022 (estimated %) Federal 8 9 11 11 State 45 46 49 46 Local 47 45 39 41 Grants 0 0 1 2 Source: William A. Owings & Leslie S. Kaplan, 2019, Routledge.