Running Head: JUSTICE REFLECTION

Justice Reflection
Sara Zapalowski
Canisius College
10/19/15

JUSTICE REFLECTION

Throughout the United States, the state and federal

governments, especially in terms of funding, have treated urban school
districts unjustly. In western New York, the Buffalo Public School district
struggles due to the lack of funding and segregation. Justice, which
gives people what they deserve, must be given to these students in
order to allow them to succeed in the educational system. Because
more students in the urban district come from lower socioeconomic
families than those in the suburban, more funding should be given to
the urban district so that education is equal for all students. In order to
make up for the injustice of segregation, distributive justice in the form
of funding and resources should be given so that all students can
succeed.
Within western New York, the state spending among its districts
varies greatly to attempt to remedy the educational system; however,
the state spending is not enough and is not just to the students under
its care. Although the Buffalo Public School district spends the most
money per student in the western New York area, it is solely because
the district is so destitute (Lankes, 2015). Compared to the neighboring
suburban district of Williamsville, the median household income in
Buffalo is roughly $30,000 while the median household income in
Williamsville is roughly $79,000 (Buffalo Business First, 2014, 2015).
Furthermore, the median house value in Buffalo is roughly $65,000
while the median home value of Williamsville is roughly $197,000

JUSTICE REFLECTION

(Buffalo Business First, 2014, 2015). As a result, the property taxes in

Williamsville account for more percentage of the schools funding than
that in Buffalo. Although the Buffalo district receives more state
funding overall, there are nearly three times as many students in the
Buffalo district than in Williamsville; however, the percentages of
funding are not three times as much as in Williamsville, creating even
more of an unjust educational environment for its students. With an
injustice such as this occurring in the western New York area, the
distribution of funding to the local schools must change in order to
create a just educational system. Because of the drastic differences in
funding and socioeconomic distribution, the students in Buffalo suffer
educationally. If this injustice is not remedied, the circle of poverty in
the urban district will only increase, causing more problems in the
future. Because the youth of western New York are suffering due to its
lack of funding, a great change must come about for justice.
In addition to the injustices occurring with the funding for
education in Buffalo, de facto segregation among the urban and
suburban areas plays a huge role in the injustices of the educational
system as well. Racial and socioeconomic segregation is the main
cause for the lack of local funding to the Buffalo Public Schools. In the
Buffalo district, 81% of the students are from economically
disadvantaged homes while only 11% are in the Williamsville district
(Buffalo Business First, 2014, 2015) . Because many of the

JUSTICE REFLECTION

economically disadvantaged families live in the urban district rather

than the suburban, the students in the urban district suffer from lack of
local funding, funding from property and income taxes, and from a
possible difficult home life. In addition to being segregated by
socioeconomic status in the western New York area, racial segregation
plays a role in the injustices of the Buffalo Public School district.
According to the Editorial Board of the New York Times (2015), the
schools in Buffalo are so segregated by race that minority children are
disproportionately trapped in schools that lack the teaching talent,
course offerings and resources needed to prepare them for college and
success in the new economy (1). Since all of these issues stem from
the state and federal governments and the lack of funding, the state
must change its laws and spending in order to create a just educational
system where all students receive a high and equal quality of
education.
In order to create justice in the Western New York area
educational systems, distributive justice must be used. Since there is
such a large economic gap between the populations living in Buffalo
than in Williamsville, the government must spend more money on the
Buffalo Public School district than on Williamsville in order to ensure
that benefits and burdens are distributed among societys members in
ways that are fair and just (Velasquez, 2014). Since the population in
Buffalo is more of the lower socioeconomic class and cannot expend

JUSTICE REFLECTION

more local funding, the state and federal governments should provide
more money for the urban Buffalo district than the more well-to-do
suburban Williamsville district. Because education should be equal and
should allow for all students to graduate from high school with the
same level of knowledge and resources, the urban district of Buffalo
greatly needs more state funding so that all students in all districts are
equipped with a high level of education. Since education affects
youths futures, the government should then distribute its funding and
resources accordingly so that education is equal for all students
regardless of the race or socioeconomic status.
Since the students in the Buffalo Public School suffer from lack of
local funding and other issues that stem from low socioeconomic
status, more state and federal finding should be extended to Buffalo
than those in districts like Williamsville. Because the students in
Buffalo have more needs and lack local funding, the state should
distribute its funds accordingly so that all students in New York receive
a high quality equal education. Through distributive justice, the
government can help to remedy the injustices between the urban and
suburban school districts in Western New York.

JUSTICE REFLECTION

References
Buffalo Business First. (2014). Buffalo. In Almanac of Upstate School
Districts.

Retrieved from

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/feature/schools/2014wnyschools/2011/06/district-016.html
Buffalo Business First. (2015). Williamsville. In Almanac of Upstate
School Districts. Retrieved from
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2015/06/01/district14020306
0000.html

JUSTICE REFLECTION
The Editorial Board. (2015, Jan. 9). Racial isolations in public schools.
New York

Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/

Lankes, T. (2015, June 3). Buffalos per-student spending is 5th in U.S..

The Buffalo

News. Retrieved from http://www.buffalonews.com/

Velasquez, M., Andre, C., & Shanks, T. (2014). Justice and fairness.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/justice.html