Associate Professor David Backer Publishes Book, Advocating for Radical U.S. Public School Financial Reform
Book cover: “As Public As Possible”
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.
David I. Backer, Ph.D.
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.
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