Reply to Banner Article on Declining Enrollment

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here are some of the other points the Banner says about MCPS kind of leading in the drop in enrollment and some of the reasons why:

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Montgomery County Public Schools experienced one of the steepest declines in enrollment this year, losing about 2% of its population. Superintendent Thomas Taylor said part of the reason is fewer students coming from other countries.

Other political factors may be factoring in, too. Maryland is losing federal jobs faster than any other state, as the Trump administration slashed positions traditionally viewed as stable employment.

[b]Maryland was already losing residents to other states at a high rate in recent years.[/b]

“It’s entirely possible that losing 15,000 jobs could have contributed to families having to relocate for other jobs,” Meyer said.

Taylor said skyrocketing housing costs could also be pushing families with young children away.

On top of that, far more families chose to homeschool their children after the pandemic. More than 42,000 kids now learn at home, compared to about 28,000 in 2020.

Private school growth has been far less dramatic since the pandemic. The percentage of Maryland students attending private schools has fluctuated between roughly 12% and 13% since 2017.

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I think that parents choosing to home school kind of indirectly points to the dissatisfaction with the quality of the school system.[/quote]

True, and people are fleeing Maryland for Virginia and further south for numerous reasons.[/quote]
I’be homeschooled my child in ES and am thinking about doing so again. In ES, it was the lack of rigor in math and reading—even in ELC and CM. Our school’s teachers are notoriously indifferent and scold the students. No books except ELC (which is gone now), no corrections, teachers would not mark wrong answers wrong so rampant grade inflation. I am not surprised the majority of students here are failing (not able to pass MCAP), and why there is declining enrollment as per Banner article.

Now my kid is in MS—too much edtech, no books. Classes too lecture/dependent and at the whim of teachers. In math, too many 85 percentile students—prealgebra is more like math 6.

If they pass regions, the mediocrity would continue. We would be locked out of a rigorous program—the “magnet” would be like Watkins Mill IB. What a waste of taxpayer money in our tough economic times with people losing their jobs to AI and inflation.

Spending tens of millions on a model that will not help the majority of students who are failing at their home schools, will not repair crumbling schools, and will not deal with safe routes to school. These are high priorities, yet MCPS wants to waste money on an unnecessary, lower priority issue: magnet programs.

I am tired of doing the school’s work—we should get vouchers and choose our own school or homeschool. And I am pushing my spouse so we can move over the border.

I know some MCPS schools have great teachers and a good student cohort. Unfortunately my child is not in a school like that. And with regions, he would not get that chance.[/quote]

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