S/O faking the address for the good cluster

[Anonymous]

The magnet program is a busing program.

[Anonymous]

Are you saying that property tax payors have a right to what their taxes directly pay for? Yes.

So your children have a right to that education because your property taxes pay for it?

What about people who pay property taxes and don't have children in public schools? Do they have a right to pay less?

What about people who rent? They don't pay property taxes at all. (And while landlords presumably use rent money to pay their property taxes, the relationship between rent and property taxes is not simple.) Do their children have a right to that education?

What about people who are homeless? They don't even pay rent. Do their children have a right to that education?

What about areas in Montgomery County that contribute more in property taxes than other areas? Should MCPS spend more in the areas that contribute more in property taxes?

What about children who live in school districts where property values are low? Do they have less of a right to a good education than children who live in school districts where property values are high?

What about school districts created to exclude children who live in areas where property values are low? (Not an issue in Maryland, but definitely elsewhere.) Do you have a right to say, "I want my property taxes to go toward my child's education, not toward your child's education?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Are you saying that property tax payors have a right to what their taxes directly pay for? Yes.

OK, as long as we are in agreement that the entire county pays taxes for the entire county's schools. Your taxes do not go to support your cluster only, so paying taxes on a home in a particular neighborhood does not mean you are paying directly for the school in that neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you saying that property tax payors have a right to what their taxes directly pay for? Yes.

OK, as long as we are in agreement that the entire county pays taxes for the entire county's schools. Your taxes do not go to support your cluster only, so paying taxes on a home in a particular neighborhood does not mean you are paying directly for the school in that neighborhood.

In terms of allocated county resources the poorer areas already get funded to maintain a lower student to teacher ratio than the more affluent areas, so the distribution is already somewhat inequitable.

[Anonymous]

So good quality PUBLIC school education is only for the affluent? Got it.

[Anonymous]

Lets face it. When you buy a house in a certain location, you're trying to surround your kid with the best students, not the particular school. So taxes are taxes. They go to all the schools. So lets just suffice it to say your selection of a house buys you a certain school environment with maybe more parental involvement and the joy of being around like-minded individuals or folks who you hope to be or your child to be. I can say first hand that that's a really poor reason to go house broke or live in a shack if you can afford more. All the schools in moco are great. All have strengths and weaknesses. All have high performing students and great opportunities for your child to excel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. I didn't intend for the question to be about people who fake their addresses or break the rules to get into a specific school, but rather about whether people think that if they pay more in property taxes they have the right to better schools. I happen to think they don't, personally. Also, there seems to be a poster on here who thinks that the reason, say, Whitman is considered a better cluster is that its neighborhoods are worth more and pay more in property taxes. This is not correct. All Montgomery County taxes go to fund all the schools. Their taxes don't buy them better schools any more than they buy them better trash removal, park maintenance, or tree trimming.

DC spends $18,000 per student.
Fairfax County spends $13,000 per student.
MoCo spends $15,000 per student.

Yet obviously, DC has the worst schools by far.

The point is, Whitman isn't better because of $$$. I remember when "W" schools couldn't even afford books, but they were still the best in MoCo. It's the kids who live in that district and attend those schools, and to some extent their parents too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The person who thinks that the premium is for proximity to the city is wrong. Take the area in Kensington where some of it feeds to Oakland Terrace or Rock View Elementary (and eventually to Einstein). It is next to the area that feeds to Kensington Parkwood and eventually Walter Johnson. There is a street that is divided- the houses that go to WJ are 200,000 more. Obviously not a proximity issue.

I believe that no one is entitled to a better school because they paid more. [/

Your money goes farther outside the beltway, excluding Potomac. The area you are referring to is not inside the beltway.

This response makes no sense. The entire area is outside the beltway. This does not explain why one part of a block is 200,000 more. What explains that differential is the perceived difference in schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. I didn't intend for the question to be about people who fake their addresses or break the rules to get into a specific school, but rather about whether people think that if they pay more in property taxes they have the right to better schools. I happen to think they don't, personally. Also, there seems to be a poster on here who thinks that the reason, say, Whitman is considered a better cluster is that its neighborhoods are worth more and pay more in property taxes. This is not correct. All Montgomery County taxes go to fund all the schools. Their taxes don't buy them better schools any more than they buy them better trash removal, park maintenance, or tree trimming.

DC spends $18,000 per student.
Fairfax County spends $13,000 per student.
MoCo spends $15,000 per student.

Yet obviously, DC has the worst schools by far.

The point is, Whitman isn't better because of $$$. I remember when "W" schools couldn't even afford books, but they were still the best in MoCo. It's the kids who live in that district and attend those schools, and to some extent their parents too.

I'm the OP, and I don't disagree that Whitman is great, and that this is because of the kids who go there. My only beef is with parents who say they deserve a great school because they pay so much in taxes or paid so much for their house.

[Anonymous]

But do we know (and if so, how) that Whitman really is one of the best schools? I mean, we know that Whitman is one of the schools with the highest proportion of students from high-SES families. But I don't think that the two are synonymous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person who thinks that the premium is for proximity to the city is wrong. Take the area in Kensington where some of it feeds to Oakland Terrace or Rock View Elementary (and eventually to Einstein). It is next to the area that feeds to Kensington Parkwood and eventually Walter Johnson. There is a street that is divided- the houses that go to WJ are 200,000 more. Obviously not a proximity issue.

I believe that no one is entitled to a better school because they paid more.

I could start a whole thread about the Kensington schools! I have friends who live in all three parts, a matter of a block or two from each other. It is a case study in parental school anxiety, the real estate bubble, demographic differences, etc., but right in the middle of it are a bunch of houses that pretty much look the same. Someone at the upper echelons of MCPS should look at it as an example of the continuing perceived inequality between schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The person who thinks that the premium is for proximity to the city is wrong. Take the area in Kensington where some of it feeds to Oakland Terrace or Rock View Elementary (and eventually to Einstein). It is next to the area that feeds to Kensington Parkwood and eventually Walter Johnson. There is a street that is divided- the houses that go to WJ are 200,000 more. Obviously not a proximity issue.

I believe that no one is entitled to a better school because they paid more.

I could start a whole thread about the Kensington schools! I have friends who live in all three parts, a matter of a block or two from each other. It is a case study in parental school anxiety, the real estate bubble, demographic differences, etc., but right in the middle of it are a bunch of houses that pretty much look the same. Someone at the upper echelons of MCPS should look at it as an example of the continuing perceived inequality between schools.

'd be interested in such a thread. A long time ago there was a thread about Kensington Parkwood possibly being rezoned to go to Einstein (because of White Flint development). People freaked out. I don't think it was ever in the works though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So good quality PUBLIC school education is only for the affluent? Got it.

The difference in the school quality is NOT driven by the money and resources being allocated (assuming we're talking about school quality as being defined by test scores). In fact, if you go by money spent and teacher/student ratio the non-affluent areas are measurably better. The affluent areas are funding a better quality of education in the poorer areas than they would be able to by themselves. I doubt they would be that good w/o tax revenue from the richer areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So good quality PUBLIC school education is only for the affluent? Got it.

The difference in the school quality is NOT driven by the money and resources being allocated (assuming we're talking about school quality as being defined by test scores). In fact, if you go by money spent and teacher/student ratio the non-affluent areas are measurably better. The affluent areas are funding a better quality of education in the poorer areas than they would be able to by themselves. I doubt they would be that good w/o tax revenue from the richer areas.

Yet this thread isn't about people's anger that poor areas are getting the benefit of tax dollars from wealthier individuals, instead it is about someone who can't afford to live in a certain area having the nerve to care enough about their child's education that they try to find a way to get access to a quality public school. The key here is that it is public school. if people want to be exclusive about who attends the school then they should pay to send their child to private school. But people acting like they get to corner the market on PUBLIC schools is mind-blowing to me.

[Anonymous]

Which is it, PP? Is school quality defined by test scores? Or is school quality defined by something else, which the affluent areas are funding in the poorer areas?