Reply to Are the wealthy leaving MCPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What happened in Hawaii could happen here.

So the story goes, back in the 60's Hawaii tried to have a solid public school system.  However, there was a lot of local pushback in the 70's about some public schools having more resources than others, so there was a pullback and the affluent put their kids into privates.  By the 80's there was a huge difference between Private and Public schools that privates (ex. Punahou where Obama went to school) did exceptionally well but not so much the publics.

When the 70's housing market temporarily collapsed (reducing collected taxes), public education budgets were slashed and never really recovered after that. Taxpayers didn't want to sink a lot of money into a poor school system.  That became an entrenched cycle and a classic tale of have-and-have-nots that, I feel, continues to this day.

Currently the "best" #1 public HS in Hawaii is Roosevelt.  However, the AP participation rate is only 66%, and it's #550 in National rankings.

So, by all means, MCPS Central Office and MC BoE - go ahead and alienate the high SES families.  Given that the rumor is Ms. McKnight doesn't even send her kids to Public school in this County, who knows - it may already be happening?[/quote]

People on this board like to pretend that it doesn’t matter if higher-income families leave the school system.  However, it matters very much.  We have seen this play out in other areas.

I’m from a country where the public school system is only for lower-income families.  Anyone middle-class and above goes private.  And there are clear differences.  Talk about widening the achievement gap.

A strong school system needs support from families at various income levels.  When the schools system only serves lower-income families, it is not good for public education.  [/quote]

+1 It's definitely a pattern.  If parents start associating Public School = FARMS / low-SES, then once that label sticks, you can't undo it.

Then all the parents complaining about boundaries and redistricting can just fight amongst themselves, but once you reach critical mass the school budgets will start getting cut.  No one wants to fund bocci ball and Kid Museum.[/quote]

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