Our property taxes went up by about 25% this year. This is probably fair. The amount we were paying reflected what the house was worth in 1991, which is 1/3 of its market value now.
At the same time, it sort of pisses me off. What are we getting for the extra $X we're paying the city? It feels like we're sending the money into this big black bureaucratic hole where it will be used to... I don't know... pay for the mayor's new iPhone (oh wait, that was the OLD mayor).
The elementary school in our district is failing. And when it snows (which thankfully hasn't been often these past two years) the city doesn't even bother to send a plow down our street. They refused to turn the lights on in the city parking lot on our corner because it cost too much money, leading the lot to become a haven at night for people doing / selling drugs / other nefarious activities. Maybe the money is for police? Whenever I call the cops -- probably something I do once every other month or so -- they are always quick to respond.
Woo.
The elementary school situation makes me laugh. With irony. Soooo.... this is the backup school to the good school that people pay a 150K premium for to buy a house in that catchment area. And the backup school is an "empowerment" school, which means that it has been taken over by the federal gov't (I believe) because it is so bad.
People in my neighborhood who have no choice / for some reason WANT to send their kids there try to guilt / cajole / apply peer pressure to get you to see what an awful entitled human being you are for saying you'd rather shell out 25K per year for private school than to send your child to that shit hole. They will say that they are working with the school to "green" the playground (woo - bushes.) and to start an "art" program. And.... I guess that's nice and all. But what good are either of these things if they kids can't do math or read. Or if some 15 year old 8th grader brings a gun to school.
Oh! To that end, some moms in the community had gotten together to donate books and create a reading corner in a 1st grade classroom. And... on MLK day last year (a school holiday), the feds came on an unannounced walk-through of the classroom and demanded that the reading corner be discarded because it was "messy." It was gone by the time the kids came to school the next day. Nobody's opinions were asked, and all that time -- all those books -- that had been donated by members of the community were simply pitched into the trash, and there was nothing anyone could say or do to stop it.
So yeah. Color me unimpressed.
Honestly, I don't give a crap what those other parents think. There is no way I'm sending my child to that school. I will live in a cardboard box if I have to in order to afford private school for her.
The one silver lining to the $39K/year I've been paying for daycare is that the public schools in our town are great. Great enough that I had to provide four pieces of ID to prove that I lived here in order to register. However, I still will have to shell out a nice fee for afterschool, since schools can't seem to stay open until the time when EVERY SINGLE WORKING PERSON works until.
ReplyDeleteWhen we do school we will probably still pay for an au pair to do pickups for the reason you cite. I remember doing after school programs when I was a kid -- THEY SUCKED!!
DeleteI did a YMCA afterschool program when I was a kid and I remember it wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. It was just... I don't know, a place to hang out for a couple of hours.
DeleteThe program in our town is supposed to be really good, although it's $20 a day, which probably isn't much less than a sitter. But it's on the same block where I work, so that's a bonus. Plus they're open on school vacations and all summer, so I don't have to worry about getting those days covered. My only fear is missing the application deadline so I've programmed it into my phone like five times.
My sister and I walked home (alone) together starting in elementary school. I can't imagine letting my kid do that now! We pay a pretty penny to live in a town with good schools and will probably pay even more for someone to cart the kid(s) home after school (or to activities). I spent most of my education in excellent public schools except for a 2 year gap (freshman/sophomore year of HS) and the difference between good and bad school systems is dramatic. Violence, addiction, pregnancy (I had all 3 happen to a friend at 15). There were girls (plural!) having babies in middle school. Anyone who acts like you're a snob for not sending D to a failing public school hasn't spent enough time in a crappy school system.
DeleteThere are basically two options if you value and can afford education. You either buy a tiny house somewhere expensive with good schools and do public schools or buy somewhere more affordable and use the money "saved" (HA) on expensive private schools. When my husband and I priced out the two options is seemed like a wash but the affordable area that's geographically convenient for us isn't conveniently located to any of the private schools we were willing to consider.
The last statement is exactly why you're a great mother. We were lucky to have fabulous public schools, but Mama and Papa were willing to be homeless so that we could do what we needed for our education.
ReplyDeleteOur local taxes that go to the schools end up going to the retirement benefits of teachers and city workers. I'm all for giving benefits, but the math ends up being mostly retirement benefits and very little for running the schools or paying current teachers. It's terrible. People here also do private schools because the number of days off in the public schools has gotten so high, that kids in private schools go to school more days/year. It makes scheduling really difficult when one month the kids have off 1 or 2 days a week for teacher training/planning days.
ReplyDelete