Posted on 02/20/2002 12:01:13 PM PST by Salvation
Portland Tribune: Census shows that rich kids are leaving public schools behind
Todd Murphy of The Portland Tribune
Portland, OR, Feb. 19 - Families in Portland's higher-income neighborhoods are increasingly abandoning Portland Public Schools.
The evidence comes - for the first time in a concrete way - in a recent analysis of 2000 census data. It hints at the beginning of a trend that city leaders have dreaded for years: that middle- and upper-class families will flee the city's historically strong school district, causing the debilitating decline that has occurred within inner cities and city school systems across the country during the last three decades.
The census analysis, prepared as part of a report by Portland State University's Population Research Center, compares the percentage of school-age children enrolled in Portland Public Schools in 1990 to the percentage enrolled in 2000. That percentage declined across the district, from 85.8 percent in 1990 to 83.5 percent in 2000 - a percentage still higher than in many U.S. cities.
But the portion of school-age children enrolled in the Portland district declined more steeply from 1990 to 2000 on Portland's west side and in a large area of Northeast Portland around Grant High School - some of the most affluent areas of the city.
The percentage of school-age children enrolled in city schools in Southwest Portland dropped almost 10 points, to about 73 percent, from 1990 to 2000. The percentage declined 8.6 percent, to 71.1 percent, in west and northwest portions of the city. And the enrollment decline was 6.2 percent, to 83.8 percent, in city schools around Grant High.
The west-side decline happened even as the total population of school-age children increased significantly in the area during the decade, according to the PSU analysis.
"I guess what's most concerning about those kinds of rates: Are we just becoming like every other kind of urban center, where people with more resources don't care (about the public schools)?" Portland school board Chairwoman Debbie Menashe asked.
"Portland isn't that way yet,'' she said, but the numbers concern her. "I find it very sad."
A serious threat While district leaders are concerned about declining enrollment across the 54,000-student district - down from more than 80,000 in the early 1960s - the import of losing middle- and upper-class families is about more than their numbers.
Middle-class and upper-middle-class parents generally have more time to provide volunteer help in schools. They have more political clout to make sure that schools get government support.
By keeping their children in public schools, they generally make schools better - making city neighborhoods more attractive to live in. And pulling their children out of public schools has precipitated declines that have decimated inner cities and city school systems from Detroit to Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
"Look at what's happened in other cities, and pick almost any other urban environment," said Karla Wenzel, school board vice chairwoman.
"You lose the investment of the middle classes in caring about the school system and caring about schools and how they affect the livability of the city, and you have people who might shrug their shoulders and say, 'Public schools are only for people who can't afford other choices,' '' she said.
The apparent shift toward schools outside the Portland district is obvious in enrollment numbers.
Enrollment in the two largest suburban districts west of Portland - Beaverton and Hillsboro - has increased by more than 14,000 since 1990, or more than 37 percent.
Enrollment at Washington County private schools has jumped from 4,900 in 1990 to more than 7,600 this year, according to state and other figures. Enrollment in Multnomah County private schools has increased from about 8,900 in 1990 to about 9,900 this year.
The children of Mike and Nancy Phillips are among those statistics.
The couple, both physicians, live with their two sons in Portland's West Hills. Sixth-grader Spencer and second-grader Grant both have attended the city district's Ainsworth Elementary, which Nancy Phillips calls "a great school." But both are now attending private schools.
Spencer attends Gilkey Middle School because the Phillipses were concerned about the large size of the Portland district's West Sylvan Middle School. Grant attends Catlin Gabel School because they worried about the large class sizes at Ainsworth.
"I never thought in a million years that I would be doing this," Nancy Phillips said.
But the continued budget cuts to public schools and the erosion of programs "make me nervous" about Portland district schools, Phillips said. "I'm pulling my kids out of them because I'm not sure about the future. And it's sad."
District leaders say the trend can be stopped if state lawmakers better invest in schools, and if the district continues to develop its special programs and schools that can compete with private schools for middle-class and upper-class children.
But addressing the issue soon is urgent, Wenzel said. "What it says to me," she said of the PSU analysis, "is that the writing is on the wall. And what are we going to do about it?"
Fewer children born In recent years, district leaders have pointed at two other trends as major contributors to the enrollment decline: Couples are having fewer children, and skyrocketing Portland house prices are forcing families to buy homes in the suburbs.
The PSU report confirms the effect that the city's housing can have on school enrollment. It points out, for example, that while the city added more than 14,000 housing units during the 1990s, many of them were multifamily units - which house fewer school-age children per unit than single-family homes do.
This means that the number of kids per household is significantly lower in Portland than in the suburbs - and even lower in the city in 2000 than it was in 1990.
But the most striking part of the PSU analysis was the movement in percentage of Portland children attending Portland Public Schools - movement that had not been formally tracked before.
In the north, inner southeast and outer northeast areas of the city, the percentage of school-age children enrolled in district schools changed little from 1990 to 2000. In the outer southeast, an area that gained scores of immigrant families during the 1990s, the percentage of school-age children attending district schools actually increased from 84 percent to 90 percent.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Of course, I may have missed that in the article...but somehow I doubt it.
FRegards,
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.
Not that that's the only problem with our schools ....
You mean we pay the taxes for these people? </sarcasm off
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.
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.)
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