Portland Tribune: Census shows that rich kids are leaving public schools behind

MSNBC online ^ | 2-19-02 | Todd Murphy of The Portland Tribune

[CT]

Please see my prior post #7 for some ammo to use with your brother, although it may not be as specific as you want for a good, fact-based, blow-em-out-of-the-water exchange of "ideas." We live in a suburb of Portland. We moved here for one reason only -- the school system. CT (husband) grew up in Portland and would not even consider living there because of the schools and because Portland has become a liberal bastion of the Democratic elite. The school system in Portland is recognized and understood by everyone to be simply awful. Of course, most Portlanders who are forced to send their children there may not admit this. People living in the burbs are here for the same reason we are; to escape the public school system of Portland. I personally know non-Catholic Portlanders sending their children to Catholic schools to avoid the Portland public school system. White flight is nothing new, of course, but your brother is sadly disillusioned and in complete denial if he thinks that school system has any respect at all. It is widely denigrated, but never by the Portland "Oregonian" (i.e., LIBERAL) newspaper. So I'm not sure where you'd go to get the hard evidence you seek. Good luck. Oregon went all Bush, except for Portland. Unfortunately, the population there was large enough to give this huge entire state to Gore. Eastern Oregon and the small logging and farming towns are mostely conservative.

[quebecois]

"The import of losing middle and upper class families is about more than their numbers"

Does anyone else notice how the lefties only speak nicely about the white middle and upper class when they need us to support one of their government programs or institutions? Any other time, these government hacks would be spouting off about how evil we are and blaming us for everything that is wrong with the world. I'm so used to being a capitalist, racist, facist, homophobic, cat-choking furball, that her nice talk is giving me goose-bumps.

"In the outer southeast, an area that gained scores of immigrant families during the 90s, the percentage of school-aged children attending district schools actually increased.."

Hmmmm...I wonder if this could have anything to do with the fleeing middle/upper class?

[sphinx]

Thanks. I live in Washington, D.C., where the public schools are just barely this side of hopeless, but that's another story. Portland, by reputation, is at the other end of the big city public school spectrum. (Leave the upper crust 'burbs out of it for the moment.) Their public schools are still supposed to be more-or-less functioning. If people are starting to bail out of a supposedly going concern, it's worth probing beneath the headline.

It's also an interesting case because Portland, in theory, should have a chance to stop the collapse before it goes too far. This might be a good one to watch over the next several years.

[El Sordo]

It can't be helping that the state and local governments scream "NOW WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO CLOSE DOWN ALL THE SCHOOLS!!" everytime they want more money to spend.

[ThreeYearLurker]

It all depends where you live. In my neighborhood (Portland Suburbs), the average house price is $400,000 to $500,000. Our public school is about the same as a private school.

Riverdale School District, in Southwest Portland is a totally exclusive school, of course the houses there are very pricy, if a house sells for under a million they will advertise it as Riverdale School District in the paper.

One thing is true though, there is no way in hell I'd ever send my kids to Portland Public Schools.

[sphinx]

The school system in Portland is recognized and understood by everyone to be simply awful.

Thanks. I had a different impression, due largely to my brother's testimonials, but I'll look for information about the testing differentials between the city and the 'burbs.

Of course, as a D.C. resident, I will probably think the Portland public schools still look pretty good by comparison. I guess what I'm really looking for is how PPS stack up among other cities of comparable size.

[SAMWolf]

Gee i wonder if these incidents have anything to do with parents decisions to get their kids out of Public Schools?

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[Osage Orange]

A better gauge would have been to find out and PUBLISH...how many teachers in the districts in question have yanked their own children out of the government schools.

Of course, I may have missed that in the article...but somehow I doubt it.

FRegards,

[T. P. Pole]

It was the mention of Washington DC that raised my ears. We all know that the rich leaving DC didn't lower the amount of money being spent there. If I recall correctly, they spend the highest per capita in the US. Not that that has helped them.

[Some hope remaining.]

Are we just becoming like every other kind of urban center, where people with more resources don't care (about the public schools)?"

She is missing the point which is that people do care and they care a lot. And they don't like what they're seeing in the public indoctrination, er, school system so they're going elsewhere.

[sphinx]

You are correct. Our public schools are lavishly funded. If I recall correctly, however, about 40% of our total school budget goes for special ed. We are one of the many places where special ed has become a fiscal black hole.

Not that that's the only problem with our schools ....

[Slyfox]

Gee, what a quandry. Ya gotta keep them federal dollars coming, so you impliment programs to keep the NEA happy. However, those programs drive away ordinary folk so the ya loose the federal dollars when they leave. What is a public school administer to do?

[Salvation]

Does anyone else notice how the lefties only speak nicely about the white middle and upper class when they need us to support one of their government programs or institutions?

You mean we pay the taxes for these people? </sarcasm off

[Salvation]

Thanks, SamWolf from the Portland suburbs of Forest Grove and Gresham, Oregon. I was going to post those links................beat me to it!

[Salvation]

However, those programs drive away ordinary folk so the ya loose the federal dollars when they leave.

Altogether, on the count of three, 1.........,2.........,3............OOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhh, I feel so sad. FTE (Full Time Equivalent) rules and the schools without attendance or FTE lose their money.

[SAMWolf]

Those are just the two latest. There's also the "school children" being bussed to Salem to lobby for tax increases during the Special Session of the Legislature controversy.

[ThreeYearLurker]

Forest Grove really is not a suburb of Portland. It is a small town about 30-40 miles to the west.

[ikanakattara]

If I recall correctly, however, about 40% of our total school budget goes for special ed.

That's pretty characteristic of large-city school districts. Those with poorer kids, minority kids, etc. are going to have more kids needing special ed services (think crack babies who are hitting the grade schools right now.) These services are phenomenally expensive to deliver. For instance, the teacher's aides and intensive instruction for one autistic child can top $100,000 per year. (By the way, your average parochial school or private academy won't even admit these children, much less provide the services they need.)

[stubernx98]

Hey, that's not fair to the poor kids. You must be enjoined to send some( a lot) of your money to the Portland schools to make it fair. That's what the state of Washington does.