Reply to There is no housing crisis in MoCo or most of the DMV for that matter

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]^^ Despite what a PP said earlier, this really is about everyone wanting to live in Bethesda, CC, Arlington, etc. The people complaining about affordable housing know that they can afford to buy a place in Montgomery Village, they just think they're too good for it.[/quote]

I agree with you but the reason that people want to live in those areas is because of the quality of the schools.  That's the uncompleted part of the sentence "affordable housing in the DMV [u]with decent quality schools[/u]"[/quote]

It is possible to improve/support any school by putting effort into it as a parent. Being present, fundraising, building community.[/quote]

No, you joining the PTA does not, and will not magically improve that school.  That's not reality.[/quote]

And yet I helped build a school that way . [/quote]

DP.  You can also volunteer to pay extra taxes to the government to help out if you think it needs more money, but, as Buffet points out, that's not your job.  It's the [i]government's[/i] job to use whatever funding we end up giving it as a society (yes, I know, we make up the government, too -- separate issue) in a way that provides equal protection to those in the society.

Education is part of that government provision.  In Maryland, that is administered at the county level.  [i]MCPS[/i], not parents, needs to be providing reasonably equivalent educational services across the county.

Making a school experience better on top of that is something you can try to do as an individual, sure, just like paying extra tax.  The thing is that when the educational system allows itself to rely on that for good schools, the only schools where that tends to happen are the ones in areas where people can spend their extra time & disposable income for that purpose.  Suggesting to a school community without those resources that they should just pitch in to make their schools better is tantamount to "Let them eat cake!"

So it's not surprising that in a county where the school budget has been kneecapped year after year for a couple of decades that there is increasing demand for areas with "better" schools.  Not that this hasn't always been the case, but that it's been exacerbated by the underfunding.

Part of that better has to do with the student population -- well supported at home, etc. -- and it should be the part that really deserves the quotes, as it isn't the school, there, making the difference.  Part of it may have to do with the schools, though -- like retained teachers who provide greater stability, attracted by more manageable cohorts, perks from parents, etc.  Part of it has to do with that direct support of parents that is much more possible in wealthy areas.

Raise taxes/fund the schools to levels where there aren't great disparities in facility conditions (MCPS has a huge backlog, now) and where location doesn't heavily determine access to class variety, robustness of supports vs. need or availability of extracurriculars.  Sure, you'd be left with performance differences (and some peer influence) based on cohorts with heavy family support in some areas, but there'd be much less concentration of housing demand, and it would undercut the perceived need for the kind of housing that is the current darling of development interests.

Now, of course, you'd still be left with some schools getting the odd Mike and Jean Heatheringfellow Class of 29 Memorial Sundial, but the [i]school system[/i] could be providing that reasonable equivalence of [i]education[/i], itself.  Meanwhile, there are many other societal benefits associated with broadly available high quality education (lower crime/teen pregnancy rates, increased social mobility, etc.)

Cue the "We already pay those corrupt bandits too much as it is" responses from opportunity hoarders...[/quote]

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