[Salvation]

FYI

Makes me wonder if this is happening all over. My intuition says 'yes'.

[AppyPappy]

It's a good thing, right? Doesn't this mean there will be more of the coveted "Smaller Class Size" schools?

[Free the USA]

Bump List

[eFudd]

"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.

My guess is that as Portland Oregon becomes more and more socialist, that any parent that gives a damn about their kids and has the resources will get their kids out of the public school system.

But that would be putting blame on someone besides the parents.

What socialist in their right mind would ever blame a public institution?

Those "rich" parents are to blame for the decline in the public schools. Not the school board. Not the school administrators. Not the teachers. Not the curriculum.

[js1138]

It already has happened everywhere else. My own city has fought this by taking inner city schools and adding magnet programs to attract good students. It works to the point of getting kids to the schools, but I don't know if it improves the schools from the point of view of the non-magnet kids.

[stubernx98]

This is happening everywhere in urban areas. In Seattle over 30% of the Teachers send their kids to private schools. Doesn't that tell you something? Let's hope the Supreme Court rules in favor of vouchers.

[CT]

The Portland area is extremely liberal. It is reflected in the Portland public school system. This is an area that banned the ROTC in high schools, because of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. A Portland public school mom sued to ban the Boy Scouts of America from recruiting for members or meeting on public school property, because her son (age 9) is an "atheist" and wasn't made welcome by the Boy Scouts (or something akin to that). These people want to boil it all down to money. They don't seem to get that it's about values. This whole city doesn't seem to get that it's about values, as they voted to use tax dollars to fund benefits for live-in partners (gay and straight, but most certainly gay). Their suggestion is to throw more money at the schools. They really don't get it. Portland is a liberal mecca. I can't even stand to go downtown. No wonder people are fleeing to the 'burbs and taking their kids with them.

[mlmr]

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.

No Debbie, we are people who care more about our children than your beloved blob.

[hsmomx3]

I think it is.

However, I get so angry when I hear the educrats and those who are on their side always refer to vouchers as taxpayer funded tuition. Well, what about the public school system--that is taxpayer funded. I really have a hard time with this as I strongly feel that anyone who does not use the govt. school system should not be forced to pay property taxes to the schools unless they want to.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

[dixiechick2000]

This study by PSU does not surprise me one bit. My daughter and son-in-law swore their 3 children would never see the inside of any public school in the Metro area. This includes the schools in Washington County, where they reside. All 3 are enrolled in a private Christian school and are actually spending their time at school learning the three R's, as opposed to all the time spent on social engineering in the public schools.

"... Grant attends Catlin Gabel School..."

When my daughter and I were looking for a private school for my oldest grandson, we visited Catlin Gabel. While I'm sure they offer a wonderful education, they are very liberal. The "nail in the coffin" for us was that they have a Gay and Lesbian club for the middle school and high school students.

[T. P. Pole]

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.

I think they got the cause/effect relationship wrong here. Do you think the neighborhood schools go bad because they leave, or do you think they leave because the neighborhood schools go bad?

[sphinx]

Does anybody here know with any specificity what is happening in Portland public schools? Test scores down? Curriculum wars? Discipline problems? Overcrowding? Large influx of minority kids? I am perfectly prepared to believe all of the above. I am also prepared to believe it is, at least in part, a matter of status-seeking upper middle class parents following national trends.

One of the reasons I'm convinced we will win on school choice sooner or later is the wealth effect. Wealthy parents, including the limousine liberals, have always chosen private schools even when academics were not an issue; it was a matter of social status. Middle class people tend to emulate the elites, and increasing incomes are steadily lowering the opportunity costs for middle class families to do so with regard to a big ticket item like education. I suspect private schooling would continue to grow, though not as rapidly, even if the public schools had a miracle cure. When the obituary of the government schooling monopoly is written, the Ted Kennedy-Al Gore-and Bill&Hillary types should get a prominent mention for leading by example.

That said, I'm curious about Portland because my very liberal brother lives there and, though he has no kids himself, is a great booster of Portland public schools. He is also anti-voucher, mainly because he idenfifies vouchers with the dreaded religious right. We get into a fairly heated exchange whenever the subject comes up, so I'd appreciate any solid data.

[Tacis]

Where will these poor children learn self-esteem, that Johny has two daddies, that guns are evil, that Bush is bad, that animals are people too, that blame is to be shifted, and that they can do whatever feels good? This trend certainly seems to support the union teachers' demands for more money and less work. The public schools especially the unionized public schools have lost sight of their mission. They are supposed to teach the 3 Rs and prepare kids for higher education and life. The public school's failure to meet this mission is why they fail, pure and simple.

[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?

[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.

[SAMWolf]

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

Mexican anthem tribute fuels debate

Parents unhappy with diversity presentation

[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,

[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.

[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?

[Jim Noble]

It's not rich kids-it's white kids.

The migration of whites away from urban (and now suburban) areas has been enormous-it is one of the greatest untold demographic stories of the last fifty years.

It is at least comparable to the Northward migration of blacks from "down home" in the WWII and post-WWII era.