Life During Recession Time: Schools
What will be the impact of the economic turmoil on Brooklyn schools? Will private schools like Packer, Berkeley Carroll, Friends, Saint Ann’s and Poly Prep see high rates of attrition? (We heard that close to 50 families have given notice to Trinity in Manhattan that their kids won’t be back next year.) It’s no secret…
What will be the impact of the economic turmoil on Brooklyn schools? Will private schools like Packer, Berkeley Carroll, Friends, Saint Ann’s and Poly Prep see high rates of attrition? (We heard that close to 50 families have given notice to Trinity in Manhattan that their kids won’t be back next year.) It’s no secret that many of the thirty-something parents sending their single-digit-aged children to these schools get assistance from their sixty- and seventy-something parents; the thirty-somethings may be losing their jobs (or just making less money) while the grandparents all of a sudden are facing the prospects of their retirement on half the savings they thought they had. In this scenario, will private schools be forced to cut tuitions or will only the truly rich be able to attend? And if many private schoolers shift to a public school system that’s simultaneously undergoing large cuts, what does that mean for class sizes and education quality? On the other hand, could the injection of some private school refugees be good news for some public schools? What do you think?
lol miss muffet, you just want someone’s house. transparent like scotch tape (i kid i kid). are nyc high schools really really bad? ugh the worst are the trains around 3pm. gack! every other word is F-aggot and the N word.
-rob
Wine-lover, if you live in 11211 the schools aren’t currently that great contrary to what you are saying. Send you kids to schools in 11222 if you want good schools.
Another thing to consider is NYC tax policy. These issues – schools, NYC budget, taxes, shifting demographics – are all inter-related. Brian Lehrer did a show last week about the impact of tax increases on higher-income New Yorkers (something that looks likely to happen) and there is a tipping point at which some of these folks – precisely the ones who might have the resources to give more to their local public school – DO decide to leave NYC. On this blog, there is a real bullishness about NYC since most of us who are obsessed with NYC real estate love the city and assume others feel as passionately as we do about it. But that is not necessarily a given if life here becomes too difficult and suddenly, nearby communities outside of NYC start to look more attractive. Yet another ingredient that will affect public schools here.
Private and college tuition have been outstripping income and inflation for a long time, and as far as I can see, for not very good reasons. A downturn might help reduce that.
11217 – i think the same thing. in my area, empty condos will be rented if not sold, and either way, there are tons of new families coming in. schools in my immediate are are quite good academically, but a couple have a high minority population (hispanic-virtually no african americans) which scares the upper middle class away needlessly.
I think skimming the fat is never an entirely bad thing. that said, with the school budgets being cut, you’re going to see a sharp drop in quality offered there, no matter which kids and their parents are entering the ps system. it’s a simple matter of resources and overworked teachers who end up having to cater to the lowest common denominator. kids are going to lose out in these transitions. Private schools have gotten MUCH too expensive and even the progressive ones have attracted some painfully elitist families. unfortunately those families will be the ones who can stick around. All of this is just another nail in the coffin of the choices and opportunities of the shrinking middle class.
sorry, take 2…I think more parents will take their kids out of private and put in public, THUS creating a tipping point of high achieving STUDENTS in schools which might be lacking.
I think this will be very good news for the public schools. I think more parents will take their kids out of private and put in public, this creating a tipping point of high achieving schools in ones which might be lacking.
I also think that in these tough economic times, parents will get more involved with schools, and perhaps spend some time to increase the quality of the middle and high schools, as they did/have been doing with the elementary schools over the past few years.
I think most parents still want to stay in the city, so I think that this could be an ultimate positive in the long run for many parents who choose to raise their kids here.
PS321 had its highest kindergarten enrollment *ever* this year, and one of the reasons cited was that families who would have gone to private school opted for public instead. Meanwhile, I definitely know families where the grandparents help with the private school tuition and they suddenly can no longer afford to, precisely because their investment portfolio has indeed shrunken so much. (The transfer of wealth to our parents’ generation has been extraordinary in the last few decades, but some of that wealth transfer is currently getting destroyed.) My concern as a parent is more overcrowding of the popular schools, on top of inevitable budget cuts in education. On the other hand, more parents turning to the public school system overall can lead to more parent involvement, which is a good thing. Hopefully, the less “popular” schools will benefit and continue to get better and better as more parents put their energy and resources into their local schools.