Reply to Baltimore Sun article about Howard County rezoning

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From the article: "In Leslie’s view, the more affluent families would bring new resources and support to the school. “They aren’t working two and three jobs. They have stay-at-home parents,” she said. That means they can volunteer more and provide more cash to fund everything from sports activities to after-school programs."

You may agree and wholeheartedly support that, but that doesn't mean everyone feels the same way.  There are probably more people who disagree with that view than agree, and of course many of those people won't ever tell you that.  That's why HCPS rezones every few years, because some people with means who got rezoned to a lower performing school leave while the new boundaries turn off potential families that might've considered a move to that area.  And then the whole thing repeats because people wanting to provide their kids with the best opportunities flock to the most affordable houses in a good pyramid, which again gets redistricted a few years later.  DCC and NEC as a whole are doing worse than when they were separate pyramids, because guess what, some people with means left while inbound people avoided houses zoned for the DCC and NEC.

This is a small group of people on the BOE making decisions that directly affect plans and home equities of millions.  One of those people on the BOE is a student member, who has no long-term vested interest because he/she goes off to college and likely plants roots elsewhere.  It's not the student member's fault, the BOE just uses that member like a puppet and uses (BOE will say encourages/supports) him/her to make the most controversial proposals because people likely aren't going to attack a child's argument.  Ones that do get horribly maligned.  These types of decisions should go on referendums.  When you social engineer, the people with means move away or avoid the area.  This doesn't help the FARMS class you're trying to help, because the schools still languish.  This hurts the middle class because you've stripped their home equity.  Nobody wins.  Except the politicians who use this progressive achievement as a springboard to bigger and better things, leaving everybody else to pick up the pieces.

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If we left decisions like these up to referendums, schools would still be segregated.  The county planned poorly by not building low income housing in the wear nor public transportation. The BOE is dealing with the hand they got. You can’t have concentrated pockets of poverty. I said it earlier- look at the funding of the PTA and activities at the wealthy western schools compared to the eastern schools. [/quote]

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