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What's truly sad about all of this is that some of the areas with the highest school taxes like Wilkinsburg or Woodland Hills do not have top quality schools. The main issue here is the Pennsylvania school funding formula and lack of mandatory open enrollment with transportation. This has worked very well in Minnesota and could really help high performing kids that are stuck in a bad school district.
"What's truly sad about all of this is that some of the areas with the highest school taxes like Wilkinsburg or Woodland Hills do not have top quality schools."
Because there has been terrible mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. Again, I wouldn't move there because of this and NOT because of race, unlike your friends XDV8 & GladHands would have you believe. You see, when folks like this can't get their way or get people to agree with them, they get upset and start using "race" as the issue. I said absolutely nothing about race until GladHands brought it up and essentially accused me of being a white supremacist. He in turn, is the one being racist. How does he know what race I am? He assumes I'm white. Can't people of color have the same opinions I do? I wouldn't move my kids to Deer Lakes or Shaler, for instance, because they have some of the highest taxes yet relatively underperforming schools.
Apparently, because XDV8 & GladHands would have you believe that only schools primarily attended by people of color have issues. That's racist. I wouldn't send my kids to Deer Lakes or Shaler because the taxes are far too high for the quality of education. While not terrible, there are better values out there in my opinion.
Gladhands and XDV8 sound like they're angry at the world and don't want to move forward. They don't understand that people do have choices and freedom to send their kids to other schools. Want them to go to Fox Chapel, for instance, move to Sharpsburg. There are plenty of very affordable homes.
The link above shows the wide disparity in school funding among districts in Allegheny county.
Would prefer equitable sharing of school tax revenue and I say this living in a school district that would lose from such an arrangement. I wouldn’t call this merging.
Location: The Flagship City and Vacation in the Paris of Appalachia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by villageidiot1
How exactly does mandatory open enrollment with transportation work? It is difficult enough to provide transportation within one school district. Does the bus drive pick kids up and ask them what school they attend? Seems like an impossible task.
The link below outlines the basics a little bit and there are two ways you can do it. You can bus students in from outside the district or reimburse parents for their travel costs. Currently, many open enrollment states do not require transportation and it is up to the school district. Transportation is important because many of the students in the poorest districts do not have reliable transportation to the suburbs. If there are not drastic changes in the near future to Pennsylvania’s elementary and secondary education funding formulas, I fear that there could be additional school district closings. It was only a few years ago that the city of Erie was discussing closing all of the city high schools and using the remaining budget from school taxes to bus students to county schools.
I don’t think some people in this thread and beyond realize that the state of Pennsylvania is mandated to provide education to students. In other words, if additional school districts close down that doesn’t mean that the high performing schools get to remain business as usual. More specifically, if financially troubled schools continue to close down only the high performing schools will be left and students will be bused to those areas. In Erie, the county politicians finally started to support additional funding for city of Erie schools when they realized that there was a very real possibility of the city schools closing and all of those kids being sent to the county schools. This is a very complicated issue, but it is truly a crisis statewide and the cities of Erie and Harrisburg probably have the most school funding issues, but there are several schools in the Pittsburgh region that are under severe financial stress. As a final point, I don’t want to make this about race, but I can understand how some posters can be upset about this issue and in many instances it does disproportionally affect certain races. I care about all of the children in this state and zip code should not determine the quality of public education that a child receives.
Just another angle on merging that as we has seen doesn’t work. Look at Edgewood and what happened to them when that idiot judge killed their school. Now the parents have to pay for private school which in turn lowers property values and tax revenue.
There is local proof that merging destroys schools. When teachers become security guards instead of teachers game over.
It’s all about parenting.
I really should run this state. Poor Edgewood. Such a great little district ruined. That judge should be considered a criminal.
What would you have done with the General Braddock School District?
I wouldn't allow one bad district to take down another GOOD district. Edgewood had a good one and look at it now. You can't help those that just don't want to be helped. When you merge the better part of the merger will fail. The only way to help a school district like Braddock would be way more at school options. Boarding kids would probably be the only real solution, that way they can break the cycle. Just adding smarter wealthier kids will make parents pull them out because education is so important to the more affluent.
I don't know if boarding is even possible. The cost would be pretty high, but there could be some sort of option for kids to break that cycle. If a kid keeps going home in survival mode and is surrounded by drugs and guns, they have little chance. Clearly kids should be at school functions 7 days a week in at risk neighborhoods. On Saturdays and Sundays (late start for church), kids could just have mentored sports time. Kids need to be busy or sleeping with about NO down time. Open gyms to bedtime and so much activities that are mandated by the district would be prudent. Down time is time for trouble.
The link above shows the wide disparity in school funding among districts in Allegheny county.
Would prefer equitable sharing of school tax revenue and I say this living in a school district that would lose from such an arrangement. I wouldn’t call this merging.
how would this be accomplished? i mean, will you take x% from the more lucrative pot and even it out? but then you will hear from parents who complain their la crosse team now has to raise money for gear or something.
will taxes be raised on the greater and the lesser districts, to create MORE of the 'pot', and from there, its divied up?
everything and anything might be a great, obvious solution, until its sliced open for a look at the molecular level. i am not necessarily against what you suggest (well, you didnt 'suggest' it as much as throw it out there for discussion - the prospect of "equitable sharing").
totally irrelevant, but great music when you think deeply into a subject:
Edgewood would be a great community with a better school district. They could include church hill and even forest hills in that district.
the 15235 area code has some nice, somewhat modern homes (post 1965, say) for CHEAP. i am guessing its because of the tax rate there.
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