Gov Newsom the latest of the wealthy to send his kid back to school while most of his state is closed down, hello Achievement Gap :/
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/10/30/newsom-sends-his-children-back-to-school-classrooms-in-california-1332811
We live in a great public school district where the teachers are well paid and respected, even the wealthy use the public schools, etc. but that relationship is deteriorating by the minute. Most everyone I know is looking into private schools for the Spring semester. Where does that leave teachers when they don't have enough students; or people start voting with their wallets and their feet?
If you don't need the fancy public school district move across the county line and save a couple hundred K on housing cost and property taxes.
First, California has 58 counties. In all but 9 of them, schools are allowed to open. Public schools are allowed to open in Sacramento county - they are in the red tier. (Elementary schools in the purple tier - those 9 counties - can open with a waiver).
"Newsom pointed to $5.3 billion in state and federal funding for schools to respond to Covid-19 and two months worth of PPE given to districts by the state.
He reiterated his belief that schools need to open as soon as possible, citing academic and social-emotional concerns, but emphasized that the decisions remain up to local districts. "If parents vote with their feet - it depends. Our district has lost a number of students to home schooling or private schools in the last 6 months (140 students out of 14,000).
Our district, for the first time in years, is a "basic aid" district instead of an LCFF district. That means the amount of money that goes to the school district for education exceeds the "floor" set by the state of California for the given enrollment.
In prior years, loss of enrollment = loss of $. This year, loss of enrollment = the same amount of money, fewer students. There's a reason why the two one-school districts in the really wealthy area are doing awesomely well, even if most of the wealthy send their kids to private school - the school still gets their property tax $. (Their funding is 3x what ours is, per student.)
