[sepositus]

How about sending my children to the school 20 miles away that is doing orders of magnitude better than my local district? Not an option apparently. Even tried several routes, including appealing to the school board, and I'm effectively ignored on every attempt.

Anyways, moving is not an option for me, as I have local dependents that I am responsible for taking care of and who would be abandoned if I left.

[sightbroke]

I am confused. 20 mile commute to school is feasible personally for your child but moving 20 miles to be in the district suddenly makes taking care of certain individual infeasible?

[sepositus]

This completely ignores the problem. I shouldn't have to sell my house and move to go to a school I can drive my kids to.

But, to answer your confusion, the median house price almost doubles in this area. So it's economically infeasible.

[sightbroke]

I wonder if there is a correlation with higher priced homes and improved school districts?

[sepositus]

I'm not immediately aware of any studies, but I would be shocked if there wasn't a correlation. Low-income families have a higher probability of raising children in a dysfunctional home who then become a burden on the local school district. Respectable teachers then flee these schools for better opportunities. This part isn't conjecture, as I'm recounting personal testimonies of teachers who have come and gone from my town. Whether this is a widespread issue, or how much of the problem it represents, I cannot confirm.

[sightbroke]

So perhaps raise your income so you can afford to move to a better district?

[sepositus]

Doesn't that feel a bit disingenuous? It sounds like you might be coming from a very privileged background and haven't been placed in a similar situation that is primarily outside of your control. It also seems to suggest that I haven't spent my years as a parent trying to do the best for my children (i.e., raising my income).

Besides all that, it seems like you simply disagree with the fact that this is a problem at all. If that's the case, we can agree to disagree.

[MengerSponge]

Many American school districts are funded by property taxes, and access to higher quality schools is valuable. It follows that communities with more desirable schools would also have more desirable housing.

[tbrownaw]

> Many American school districts are funded by property taxes

This is a red herring. Local taxes are not the only source of funding, and state / federal finding is deliberately allocated in a way that makes up the difference. Or iirc often more than makes up the difference.