Associate Professor David Backer Publishes Book, Advocating for Radical U.S. Public School Financial Reform

David I. Backer, Ph.D., an associate professor at Seton Hall University’s College of Human Development, Culture, and Media, has published a book titled, As Public as Possible: Radical Finance for America’s Public Schools. Using his scholarly background and experiences in Philadelphia, Backer critically examines the financial structures of U.S. public schools and advocates for policies that strives for equitable education for all.

As Public as Possible was inspired by Backer’s time living in Philadelphia, where he observed community members organize and demand extra funds to address toxic levels of lead, mold and asbestos in the schools. This social movement encouraged Backer to begin writing newsletters to learn and help the organizers understand the public schools’ financial systems.

He shared,

I wrote from a place of not-knowing, a voice of publicly figuring out this arcane and powerful world of money for schools. Eventually, I realized lots of people don’t understand school finance, particularly how buildings are financed, and a book was a natural next step to put it all together.

In his book, Backer addresses the current financial systems of U.S. public schools and the ongoing dialogue surrounding critical race theory and publicly funded charter schools. Backer argues that the current system is a consequence of decades of educational policies that have been shaped by the belief that schools can “do more with less,” a notion he argues research has disproven. Drawing on the labor theory of value, Backer links educational outcomes to school funding. Investment in “crucial infrastructure” such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and higher teacher pay leads to better test scores, attendance and staff retention, showing that funding is essential for school performance.

To accomplish these aims, Backer advocates for a radical shift in addressing U.S. education by attending to the gap between the country’s ideals and practices. “We have very lofty values in this country around public education: democracy, citizenship, public goods, excellence, freedom, choice, success,” he shared. “But the way our schools rely on material values, like property values, stock and bond prices and pension returns, are completely at odds with those other values.”

Backer suggests that the United States needs a “Green New Deal for Schools” or a “National Investment Authority” and proposes several concrete policies in his new book. “Whether it’s regional tax base sharing, creating high floors for district mill rates and low ceilings for per-pupil expenditures in rich areas to skim the excess off for poorer districts, establishing a value-added tax at the federal level, using green banks to derisk teacher pension purchases of school bonds, or incentivizing jointure financing across race-class divides, the proposals in the book are radical because they’re collectivist, pooling risk and resources together with an aim to ensure that the worst off have the best possible situation,” he said.

Backer hopes that readers gain clarity around U.S. public schools’ current financial systems and are informed and inspired to make education as public as possible. He argues that readers do not need to choose between charter schools or the status quo but instead aim for an “education system that’s truly for everyone, where every school gets what it needs and every school community contributes what it can.” In As Public as Possible, Backer presents his vision and concrete ideas for making “education as public as possible.”

His new book is available for purchase online and in-person bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Categories: Education