Absolutely Amazing

[Pittsburgh Pete]

And yet the Catholic schools (as just one example) are proving the opposite.

apples and bananas--but you know that.

And never met a Catholic school without tuition, a barrier for many who could benefit the most. In my neck of the woods, Catholic school enrollment continues to decline with a plethora of closings and consolidations every year.

 

[Eli]

Let's don't bring prohibited basis in it. Just plain old jurisdictional lines are fine. It is absolutely amazing. Kiss principle. Keep it simple stupid. George is getting off track. LOL

I am certain private schools play a part. Especially if they are in a jurisdiction. Public schools play a much bigger part in the same jurisdiction. People even ship their children between jurisdictions to private and public schools. They get waivers here somehow on jurisdictions. None the less, jurisdictions have a huge impact on real property values.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I paid 30% more for a house because it was in the school district I wanted.

Under forced bussing, like Little Rock, you cannot tell what schools your kids would be in...results? Private schools flourished and school tax bond solidly voted down. State had to mandate minimum property taxes just to keep schools open.

 

[Eli]

It is not just schools here. Government plays a huge roll in real property values in many more ways

Different jurisdictions are different in way more than schools. Schools are major as a government force. No doubt.

With schools, it seems that the smaller the jurisdiction on the public side, the better. I have heard experts in the education field tell me the same. They are like when the jurisdiction gets too big, it's too much to manage effectively and efficiently.

I see the opposite on the appraisal side in some ways (like the larger the appraisal business, it has some efficiencies and possibilities), but appraisers better pay attention to jurisdictional lines. I am definitely not an education expert. So don't ask me there. I know it has impact as a government force.

 

[George Hatch]

apples and bananas--but you know that.

And never met a Catholic school without tuition, a barrier for many who could benefit the most. In my neck of the woods, Catholic school enrollment continues to decline with a plethora of closings and consolidations every year.

Your argument is that the problem is funding. I'm showing you the example of people whose taxes support the public schools but who still choose to pay out of pocket to send their kids to the Catholic schools - which operate on less funding and which most people recognize have demonstrated a much stronger track record over many years when compared to the public schools.

The consolidation to which you refer most likely is the result of declining enrollment as fewer parents can afford to continue to pay twice (once in their taxes for the public schools and again out of pocket for the private school) and as a result of declining religious participation. But none of that offsets the fallacy that the public schools aren't getting enough money to deliver an education; not when the Catholic schools have been doing better for years with way less.

The main reason I cite the Catholic schools is because of how many there are and their collective reputations. I'm sure there are lots of other examples operating individually or in smaller groups. I've appraised some of those campuses over the years and without exception it's clear that they're working with fewer resources - and yet the parents are still choosing to pay to send their kids there rather than to the public schools. There are parents who aren't even religious who are sending their kids to the church-run schools which include the requirements to conform to those social values when they're at school - that demonstrates a considerable level of confidence in the performance of those schools.

School vouchers would gut the public schools, alright. They just wouldn't be able to compete with a school that has the discretion to kick out their troublemakers and can therefore frame participation there to be a privilege to be earned rather than a no-strings-attached entitlement.

 

[George Hatch]

My daughter in law is a 3rd grade teacher at a public school here in San Diego County. The war stories she tells involving disruptive students, disruptive parents, and students who can't keep up because they refuse to do the work and their parents don't make them do the work - it's heartbreaking. Now the school district is moving entire classes into a 2-track teaching environment where the instruction is in English for half the day and in Spanish for the other half because of how many of the kids at that campus don't speak English at home. And then we wonder why the testing scores - which everyone uses to judge the quality of the school - varies so much from one campus to the next.

That is not a funding problem; that is a parent problem.

 

[Eli]

Pete is right. It starts at home. But, it don't help those that can't afford to move to a jurisdiction with a better system. But, a strong home will still prevail.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

We lived in a city with a highly regarded public school system. We chose to teach them at home, through high school. Not everyone can do that, but not every school system can argue with our success - 100% graduation rate; 100% of our graduates got their college degrees in four years, one going to earn a doctorate at a fairly well regarded school in Yankee land. It was, however, danged expensive - we got no exemption from whatever share of our taxes was spent on public education; waiver of whatever income my wife might have been able to earn (she with a master's degree). We did have the advantage of not having to negotiate a contract with the TEA or NEA (heck, she with the master's degree already had all that we owned) and we didn't have the guilt trip-inducing, mandatory selling of coupon books, candy or car wash tickets to fund activities our taxes weren't adequate to cover. (I do wonder where that money goes.)

 

[Eli]

My sister is a 40 year education expert and X-principal. She was so glad to give up the principal role this year. Really good school system. She still loves it but loves being out of contact with the students and teachers and parents to a larger degree. It's tough. She is in a behind the scenes administrative role now. Private school vs Public school is not much different on that end. What you can do in private vs public is different on curriculum..

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Private school vs Public school is not much different on that end

The private school does not tolerate disruptive pupils. Big difference. I know a person who is a Christian college educator who homeschooled her kids. Her husband works from home as a computer geek. And several families joined in this effort. Seth just got admitted to an engineering school on scholarship. His sister is on track for same, plus she is a 6 foot plus 15 year old that can spike a volleyball like you can't believe.

Christians are feeling increasingly isolated and ostracized. We now have several local private schools for K-6, to a large campus associated with Baptist church which fields regular state champion sports teams. There is a large Seventh Day Adventist church near me that dates from the 1930's. Most Christian and secular private schools are outperforming the public schools. The issue can be summarized in uncaring parents. In public schools the uncaring dominate the caring and that is the core problem and in bussing districts disruption and violence are motivation to move to private schools more so than skin color.

A friend, a policeman/ county judge's 14 year old crashed his bike suffering a brain injury. Warned it impacted the part of the brain affecting violent / passive behavior, the child turned aggressive. They sent him to a military school. Didn't help, he murdered a fellow student in an escape attempt. The extremes are just that.