My $0.02 on the School District Shenanigans in Ohio
All the attention this story is getting about how racist and generally terrible it is that a mom got in big trouble for sending her kids to a school outside of her district is really hacking me off.
does the punishment fit the crime? if you ask me, sure it sounds a bit steep. but what she did was wrong. she stole. there are other solutions. surely there is a better school within her district.
do all these people griping not pay property taxes? property taxes go to fund the local school district. everyone pays in, everyone benefits (and no, it’s not fair that non-parents pay property taxes that fund schools, but that’s life. I don’t think it’s fair that my income tax goes to fund programs that I may not 100% agree with, but I like roads and police and fire departments, so I get over it. and incidentally I’ve been paying property taxes as a non-parent for 3 years, and I’m happy to help). but if you don’t throw in, you can’t have any of the pizza. them is the rules.
my parents sacrificed so that we could live in a top-notch school district and that district was so much better than the neighboring district that lots of families tried to sneak in just like this mom did. think it was about blacks getting into the white schools? nope. the school that was most well known for having out-of-district kids was predominately black. it’s not about race. it’s about shitty school districts.
if a district is doing well because of its tax base and other policies it has in place, why should it shoulder the responsibility of neighboring districts that don’t have their act together?
think the richer districts should subsidize the poorer ones? in Texas we do. it’s called the Robin Hood Act*. so don’t bitch to me that it’s all about socio-economics. there are multitudes of reasons that some districts excel and others are faltering. the answer isn’t that the best districts should take all-comers. that benefits no one in the end.
*and apparently we still rank last in HS graduation
