Andrew Miller
Faculty Sponsor: Shyam Gouri Suresh
Public school system funding plays an important role in the quality of students’ fundamental education. In the United States, public school funding varies by neighborhood which affects the availability of courses that aren’t seen as necessary. These courses include electives and Advanced Placement courses. Not only does this create an inequality of primary school education, but it also can limit the secondary schools that students can gain admission to. My goal was to examine the inequality of education caused by district-based funding, and compare district-based tax policy to a statewide tax for funding public education using an agent-based model. I found that district-based tax policy yielded inequality between districts, while a uniform tax rate across all districts minimized equality.