While researching schools my son might attend after the Orange County Board of Education eviscerates HES in 2008, I have been doing a great deal of reading about the general topic of "school choice."
In the course of my reading, I came across a report from the John Locke Foundation about the impact of "school choice" on North Carolina's public school systems.
While most people include different choices within a given public school system (magnet schools, HES, etc.) beneath the umbrella of "school choice," the John Locke Foundation only includes "charter, private and home schools" within their definition.
In effect, the report measures the financial impact of people opting out of their local public school systems.
While many school systems, like Durham County, publicly bemoan the existance of charter schools in their districts, and others express concern about the growing numbers of home schooled children, the John Locke Foundation report shows that school districts are richly benefiting from the dissatisfaction and distrust many parents have for their local schools.
According to the report, the parents of 2,134 children a year choose to seek their child's education outside the Orange County (presumably including Chapel Hill-Carrboro) public schools. By not serving these children, Orange County schools do not receive the per-student funding from the state and federal governments, but they also do not incur the costs associated with providing as many as 5 additional schools. No construction costs, no staffing costs, no transportation costs, etc.
The John Locke Foundation estimates that Orange County's school systems saved $16.6 million between 2000 and 2006, or $1,295 per student per year, on capital expenses alone.
Given that the Orange County Board of Education financially benefits by driving families out of the public schools, is it any wonder they are willing to alienate the families most likely to leave by eliminating the district's only public school of choice?
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7 comments:
By all means, PLEASE exercise your right to home school your child. Maybe then you will stop this divisive attack on our school system. You have every right to voice your opinion - but do you EVER see the positive aspects of our school system???? Your post about the announcement that Mrs. Horner was named principal was mean spirited. She was an awesome classroom teacher and odds are she will be an excellent principal.
I will be the first to admit that our school system is not perfect - but there are many positive aspects to our system. Again, I beg - PLEASE, if you are SO unhappy with your child's educational experience, take advantage of the option to home school him.
It is not Allan who is being devisive. He is not the one who started this whole chaos. You need to look at the Orange County Schools Administration. They are the ones who let the situation get this bad and now they are the ones creating the us against them mentality. Devide and conquer is their mantra.
Allan is giving others a voice to share their concerns regarding the schools.
I respectfully disagree with you.
I'm confused. Why are the few people who are vehemently opposed to this site reading it? Don't you have some merger plans to attend to? What is your problem with those of us who have done the research and know for a fact that the merger will not work?
The only way to have SES balance in our school system is to redistrict. That plan needs to get rolling now and not be limited by busing issues. Furthermore, for those of us who love year round -- all that we are asking is to have HES remain on one campus with a minority/low SES recruitment plan in place. I think that Ms. Horner can lead the way and get us some of the students we need to balance the school. Merger won't work b/c neither set of parents want it.
And another thing - why on earth has the Board of Education put on this charade of listening [which included a hefty bill from Andy Sachs] when they have not heard a freakin' word that any single parent has said. What a waste of time and energy for everyone involved - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUE. It was a complete act of going through the motions to appear concerned with what the parents wanted.
Why don't you take your own advice and exercise your right to stop viewing this site since it obviously upsets you.
Keep up the good work Allan! I find this site useful and informative and hope that you will choose to continue it.
First of all, everyone has the right to voice their beliefs. Throwing insults at each one is not helping anyone.
Concerning the economics of Orange County, it's only going to become worse as the years go by. There will be more people that will move to the Triangle, and many of these people have kids. Therefore, it's going to be harder to budget for this growth. The County Commissioners have the ability to raise property taxes, which may be the best answer to the problem. Unfortunately, the County Commissioners and the Orange County School Board do not see "eye to eye" and therefore hard decisions have to be made. The County Commissioners would like to see some process improvements from the School Board incorporated into the fiscal budget. This will show compromise. The County Commissioners are not opposed to improving education; instead, they are opposed to having insults hurled at them by a Superintendent that is over her head in running a quality School System. They are also opposed to having a large increase that is not at all substantiated. Good government requires all of us to make good decisions.
So the Board knows that there are some significant money issues. They also know that they have a new Middle School that had to be funded somehow. When a new school opens, you hope to see more students show up in the School System. It just didn't happen.
The end result is that the Board wants, and eventually will, close a school down in the next 3 years. HES, in their minds, makes the best sense. In my mind, HES is worth fighting for, especially when it has done nothing wrong at all. So when you read comments that are not so sweet, understand that we have something worth fighting for.
So what I am hearing is that if we are to Save HES, we must not re-elect Dennis Whitling or Liz Brown next May 2008. We need HES parents to run for School Board.
I am the "anonymous" person who suggestion that Mr. Scott exercise his right to home school his child.
I read this blog because I like to find out what other people think. I gather information from many sources so I can make an informed decision. I am not "vehemently opposed" to this site. I never said I was in favor of the merger. I am not happy with many of the actions of our school board members. As stated in my original post, each person has the right to his/her opinion. I do feel that this blog is one-sided in pointing out the "problems" with our school system, board members, and administration. Please remember that people like board members and administrators come and go. What truly matters at school is what happens inside the classroom with the students and the teachers. Each teacher has a state Standard Course of Study that will "guide" the public education of the children - no matter what the school board and administrators are bickering about. What parents do WITH their children on a daily basis is much more important that what is said or heard at a school board meeting, through the "grapevine," or on any blog.
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