Prince George’s County must do more to address middle-income flight (middle-class, 2013)

[UrbanScholar]

This has been discussed/reported previously but thought I would share the latest commentary. Its been an ongoing problem for the county. Especially over the past decade. Although I agree that something should be done to stop middle class flight from PGC, I think whatever plans are implemented won't be realized in the short term (maybe see some results in the next 10 years. Whatever their rollout, they need to be strategic and begin changes in the lower grades (pre-k and elementary). Change the culture there so that it will bubble up. Let's see how this proposal unfolds.

Prince George’s County education leaders have repeatedly said over the past
several months that a priority for the newly structured school system should be
drawing middle-income families to county schools. But school and county
government officials have not offered details about how they plan to accomplish
that goal — and it will not be easy, given limited resources and the trending
demographics of the 123,000 students in county public schools.

Prince George’s County must do more to address middle-income flight - The Washington Post

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

This has been discussed/reported previously but thought I would share the latest commentary. Its been an ongoing problem for the county. Especially over the past decade. Although I agree that something should be done to stop middle class flight from PGC, I think whatever plans are implemented won't be realized in the short term (maybe see some results in the next 10 years. Whatever their rollout, they need to be strategic and begin changes in the lower grades (pre-k and elementary). Change the culture there so that it will bubble up. Let's see how this proposal unfolds.


Prince George’s County must do more to address middle-income flight - The Washington Post

I agree with one commenter that is starts with economic development. With residential property taxes carrying the weight, building more residential properties only adds more students. But taxes from more businesses adds taxes and no children. That's the only way you can get ahead. Building apartment homes near metro stations is nice and smart growth, but there needs to be a real push to get some commercial taxes as well. In all actuality, there should be a 60/40 split between commercial development and residential development at these metro stations.

[molukai]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

I agree with one commenter that is starts with economic development. With residential property taxes carrying the weight, building more residential properties only adds more students. But taxes from more businesses adds taxes and no children. That's the only way you can get ahead. Building apartment homes near metro stations is nice and smart growth, but there needs to be a real push to get some commercial taxes as well. In all actuality, there should be a 60/40 split between commercial development and residential development at these metro stations.

This is a key - and very correct - point. We need to scale back the residential development, especially in Southern PG, and jumpstart real meaningful commercial/industrial developments.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

I agree with one commenter that is starts with economic development. With residential property taxes carrying the weight, building more residential properties only adds more students. But taxes from more businesses adds taxes and no children. That's the only way you can get ahead. Building apartment homes near metro stations is nice and smart growth, but there needs to be a real push to get some commercial taxes as well. In all actuality, there should be a 60/40 split between commercial development and residential development at these metro stations.

I agree as well. But it seems that PG can't stop approving applications for more and more houses. I suppose it's quick, easy money, and there's still lots of land to develop.

Also, the county needs to get off the repeal TRIM idea. Again, focus on commercial development. The emphasis on the quick and easy money is not going to take the county where it needs to go.

Yes, replicating and expanding existing sucessful programs can lure more middle class families. However, there are far more not-so-successful schools that need help, not only in academics, but safety issues. Middle class parents are going to place their children in schools that not only struggle academically but also have substantial behavioral and bullying problems. I think that the County focuses so much on test scores that it overlooks the poor social environment. However, middle class parents do not overlook that.

[justtitans]

I saw this article on Friday but decided not to post because I think we all know what the issues are. It would be great to see some real solutions. They really need to come up with a comprehensive study if they want to figure this out though.

[EdwardA]

The problem as I see it and manifested in the dumbfounded parents is that county leadership heck black leadership in general is geared towards addressing the issues of poor urban blacks.

While economic development is needed a simple solution is to simply expand offerings found at Elenor Roosevelt and other magnet like programs. I have said it before the county might want to consider even segregating the schools by class especially at the middle school level and above. Reserve some slots for promising low income students. That way you can target whatever new fad in social engineering to the low income schools.

[EdwardA]

Then again maybe we have to face reality, PG really isn't a middle class county. I mean if 2/3 of your public school students receive free or reduced lunch how middle class can you possibly be?

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Then again maybe we have to face reality, PG really isn't a middle class county. I mean if 2/3 of your public school students receive free or reduced lunch how middle class can you possibly be?

Oh you don't want to say that because then people don't get to talk about being the wealthiest black majority county. They want to believe that the county is more wealthy than what it is. The truth is the county leadership and a majority on the residents live in a bubble. How do I get to say that? If the fact that they knew the middle class was shrinking in the school system for 10 years, then why has there been no study done in 10 years? People in Prince George's County have itchy ears. Why would you not want to know the truth in 10 years if you are trying to fix this problem? You know what they call it when someone ignores an issue that they know exists without addressing it? In denial.

Can I just go ahead and say what it really is? Black people (and sometimes other race of people) don't like to be told about themselves. You mention that PG has more crime than another area, you will immediately be met with an arbitrary, "well crime happens everywhere". They won't see the truth in it, they will see that it is something negative and immediately find a way to counter it, without considering the merit of what is being stated. It's similar to what happened when Bill Cosby became critical of the black community a few years ago and people were angry with him. I think there is a balance. There are certainly people who ignorantly speak negative of PG, but there are too many people who can't handle critical responses. When are people going to say enough is enough? Why is this NOW becoming an issue for residents?

[molukai]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Then again maybe we have to face reality, PG really isn't a middle class county. I mean if 2/3 of your public school students receive free or reduced lunch how middle class can you possibly be?

This is such a superficial statement that I almost (keyword: 'almost') stopped myself from even responding to it. There are numerous factors that contribute to the school demographics that we see in PGC, to include spatial issues. But the biggest issue is that when you have a school district with a subpar reputation, the middle-class to wealthy families would opt (sometimes at great personal sacrifice) to send their child(ren) to private school. When you remove the socioeconomically privileged youth from the public school system, you will then have an overrepresentation of students from the lower-end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

Oh you don't want to say that because then people don't get to talk about being the wealthiest black majority county. They want to believe that the county is more wealthy than what it is. The truth is the county leadership and a majority on the residents live in a bubble. How do I get to say that? If the fact that they knew the middle class was shrinking in the school system for 10 years, then why has there been no study done in 10 years? People in Prince George's County have itchy ears. Why would you not want to know the truth in 10 years if you are trying to fix this problem? You know what they call it when someone ignores an issue that they know exists without addressing it? In denial.

Technically speaking the title of being the wealthiest majority black county doesn't infer that we are middle-class or affluent. It just means that we are wealthier than other black counties in the country. That is not saying much when you factor in other things.