[jrkatz]

Reducing income inequality has direct effects on education quality. Much of the public school budget is drawn from local funding. In short, impoverished areas beget impoverished schools and wealthier areas have well-funded schools. Parents working in precarious positions - part time jobs with shifting schedules, or _multiple_ part time jobs with shifting schedules - can struggle to find time to provide support like homework help or supervision to their children. Reducing income inequality increases the tax base & school funding while granting parents more opportunities to engage with their children's education. Many of these poor people are already making the best decisions anyone can in their position: taking the job(s) they can get for the paycheck(s) they can get so they can put food on the table and eke out another two weeks.

[brycesbeard]

I was in a public school district that made public the funding received by each school. Because it was a large metro district, we had wealthy areas and impoverished ones.

The schools in worse areas were getting about 30% more money from the district, per student, than the wealthier ones. This was to balance out the superior amount of parental funding in the richer neighborhoods.

[ericd]

This is a related problem, but I think just changing the funding source to the state or national level, like many other developed nations, is a more direct solution.