Good Schools – the Magic Bullet

How important is it to improve our public schools? Consider this. If parents could count on reliably good schools throughout the city, they would be less inclined to send their children to private schools. At $20,000 plus a pop, that’s a huge saving. What’s more parents in neighborhoods with few good options would have less need to ferry their kids to marginally better schools in other parts of town. That saves on driving and cuts traffic congestion at drop-off points. At the same time, private schools would have less motivation to expand in built-up neighborhoods, thereby cutting traffic, parking by students, and neighborhood opposition. And finally, good schools would attract the Mayor’s 100,000 new residents, possibly manifold, which would raise the tax base and maybe cut down on the some of heckling we get from Congress. At the May 1 meeting of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association, three council members took questions from the audience, and schools were Issue No. 1, 2, and 3. Which leads me to believe that the council member who figures out how to fix the schools and makes it happen will likely be the next mayor.

George Idelson, President,
Cleveland Park Citizens Association