Health & Fitness
Why is Enrollment Dropping in Blind Brook Schools?
Over the last 3 years the total enrollment in the Blind Brook School District has dropped by close to 4 percent. Why is this happening?
Over the last 3 years the total enrollment in the Blind Brook School District has dropped by close to 4 percent from 1569 in 2008-09 to the current level of 1510. The drop can be attributed entirely to the falling enrollment at the BMP Ridge Street School (primarily in grades K through 2.) In fact, during that same time period student enrollment in both the middle school and high school have actually risen! That means that the drop in the primary grades are even more dramatic than the total enrollment numbers would lead you to believe.
At the last Blind Brook Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Stark offered two explanations. The first, and most obvious, being that houses are not selling in our district. Typically, the sellers tend to be families with no children in the schools any longer, and the buyers tend to be families with young children. Is the chilly real estate market solely responsible for interrupting this long-term and reliable trend?
The second reason offered by Superintendent Stark is the fact that Blind Brook has a very low population of students who attend private and parochial schools. During weak economic times many families choose to save themselves the private school tuition and bring their kids back to their local public schools. Unlike many neighboring communities that have experienced this shift, Blind Brook tends to be somewhat insulated just by the mathematics of the low numbers of students who are eligible to return.
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I have no doubt that the Superintendent is correct in his reasoning, but still we have to ask ourselves is there not more at work here? There is no doubt that the real estate market in the Blind Brook district is depressed — possibly more depressed than surrounding districts. Rye City, for example, is seeing a much higher level of turnover according to a real estate broker with whom I spoke recently. Maybe it’s just a matter that home prices need to come down more to attract buyers? Economists and free market principles say that there is always a price where something will sell…
As a side note, I would point out that new census data shows that Westchester County again tops the nation in what we pay in property taxes — a distinctly dubious honor.
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Jeff Diamond serves on the Blind Brook Board of Education. This post presents his point of view and does not represent the opinion of the Blind Brook Board of Education.