The Case of the Vanishing Students

[SoCalDem]

My husband is in a business that bids on a lot of state projects. They have plent of jobs to keep them busy for a long time, but since they bid work that's in the future.

Until quite recently there have been pages and pages of projects going up for bid, that are for school remodels & new buildings.

They received a memo soon after the first of the year that indicated that a lot of projects were going to be put on "on-hold" status, and some that had not been up for bid yet, were being postponed.

After follow-up calls to people "in the know", came up with some troubling explanations.

1) money crunch is delaying some projects
2) layoffs have slowed some down
3) STUDENTS ARE DISAPPEARING FROM ROLLS


Some schools that were overcrowded and needed expansion, no longer "need" that expansion.

One person they spoke with said that every week, they have "disappeared" students. Parents have lost jobs and just picked up and moved, and certainly some families who were undocumented may have made their way back to Mexico, but in any case, they are gone..

Schools' federal aid depends on school enrollment, so at the time when they are needing help the most, they may start getting even less.

My husband's company will not be impacted immediately, but the "lag" will catch up to them in about 18 months. They are taking appropriate action by diversifying and bidding on more things they usually had the luxury of skipping, but it's all just beginning here in California.

[Duer 157099]

1. 3 words: home less ness n/t

[Riley18]

2. It's the same way in Florida with families leaving and enrollment down.

[livetohike]

3. I lived/taught in Houston in the boom years prior to 1982

People were moving in so fast from all over the country and then they moved away just as quickly when the oil industry declined. Maybe this is the same phenomenon your area is seeing. With many foreclosures, people have to go live someplace - maybe they are going back to their hometowns.

[sandnsea]

4. Here too

I went to the school board meeting to discuss the levy, was surprised to find reduced enrollment on their agenda. Our town has grown dramatically with seniors, we have a new casino that should have brought in families. They don't know where the kids are going either. We never had many illegal immigrants, so I don't know if that's part of it here.

[DCKit]

5. In Prince William county, VA, where they passed some really bizarre anti-immigrant laws...

student/teacher ratios are below 12/1. The remaining citizens are going to freak when they have to cover the deficit next year.

[dysfunctional press]

6. our district built new elementary and middle schools to accomodate all the new students...

from the families that had been expected to move into the 5 count'em 5 HUGH subdivisions that were being built- only 2 of which actually have any residents- or houses. and even those have WAY fewer than expected.
so- now they have two middle schools and four elementary schools- all half full.
when we asked the board why they couldn't consolidate to save money, we were told that wasn't feasible. :shrug: