Reply to New opposition petition to the Maury-Miner boundary proposal from DME

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Reply to "New opposition petition to the Maury-Miner boundary proposal from DME"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Have to wonder too how well DCPS gets through to low SES families/parents of at risk kids as to the fact that this exists, as well as how to navigate the lottery to take advantage of it. This is only a beneficial program of parents know to use it and how. These aren't parents with a few hundred to spend on a DC lottery consultant to maximize their odds, or parents who can spend the time and effort to research different schools. Then, yes, the transportation is another barrier when we're talking about preschool and elementary school aged kids who can't independently take public transportation and the parents themselves may not own a car.[/quote]

I think the biggest barrier is the cost of aftercare. Polite Piggies at Maury was over $400 a month for K-8 the last time I checked. There is a sliding scale, but it tops out at a family income of $65,000. Below that, families pay less, but still pay something. A family with income between about $20,000-$25,000 pays just under $100 a month, for example. How many families in that income range are going to enroll their kids in a "better" school if it's going to cost them an extra thousand dollars a year?

Because Miner is Title 1, aftercare is free. It is at nearly all--if not all--Title 1 schools. Kids in 4th or 5th grade are allowed to leave by themselves at the end of the school day. Below that, many, if not most, DCPS schools don't allow it. So most working poor families have to use aftercare.

I think even the savviest of low income families will hesitate to enroll their kids in a school where they have to pay for aftercare. Yes, SOME non-Title 1 schools have programs to assist at risk families with paying the bill.

Bottom line: I don't think it's lack of knowledge about at risk preferences that keeps poor families from enrolling their kids. I think it's the cost of aftercare. And I doubt very much that many of the at risk families are savvy about how much they would have to pay for aftercare at the schools w/ at risk preference.[/quote]

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