Last night, Steve and I went to a party in the other side of town. We’re in the newer section. Here, there are a couple of old Dutch homes awkwardly positioned near major intersections, but mostly the homes went up in the late 50’s when they drained the swamp. Some of the colonials and split levels have been torn down and turned into tacky mansions. That will probably be the fate of this house when we move.
On the other side of town, there are large 100-year old homes that were built when the train came to New Jersey. They were built for New York City’s upper middle class, and they continue to owned by the same type of people, only these ones wear Lulumon yoga pants. These homes scream “GOOD TASTE.” It’s hard to hate people who understand how to preserve old woodwork and how to arrange artwork. I’m shallow like that.
Also, it was impossible to hate the particular people at this party, because they were just good people. These were special ed parents. I talked to one woman who found her daughter in an orphanage in Kazakhstan. Another couple drove hours every day to take their daughter to a special pre-school. Several had uprooted their whole families and moved to this town to get help for their children. Everyone in the room had been humbled and had worry-related insomnia and made serious sacrifices at one time or another. Nobody bragged about travel lacrosse teams or AP bio.
One woman told me that she went to a PTA meeting at one of the elementary schools in town. The superintendent gave a speech about the school budget and showed some Powerpoint slides with the breakdown of expenses. After he left the meeting, the president of the PTA stood up and asked the room, “How do we stop special needs families from moving to this town?”
I wasn’t at this meeting and have never been to this school, but I’ve decided that this woman has $200 blond highlights and personal trainer-honed abs. I don’t like this woman. I’m trying to decide if I should start making phone calls to the school district.
Apt. 11d 
“After he left the meeting, the president of the PTA stood up and asked the room, “How do we stop special needs families from moving to this town?””
By socializing special needs education. The money can’t be taken out by district. The risk/cost has to be shared.
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They are operating “rationally” under the circumstances. Not ethically of course but rationally.
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Although avoiding hyper-local funding must be part of the answer, I’m not sure that it is enough. Special needs education does have the benefit, in education politics, of having the force of law behind it (i.e. the requirement that you provide an appropriate education). But, merely socializing the funding doesn’t make more of it.
In our state, the state constitution guarantees the right to a public education: “SECTION 1 PREAMBLE. It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.”
The state is currently under a court order to fix it’s funding system to provide that “ample” provision (which, as you can see from the wording, says that ample education funding is “the paramount duty” of the state).
Ultimately, this wording and guarantee might provide more money for education, but it pits education against other funding, since it does nothing to demand any changes in the size of the pie (well, except that it be enough to provide the right to an education and not to other services).
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Special needs education, like all education, will be pitted against other spending whether it’s funded locally or state wide. I think I’m with Wendy, that you don’t want a locality to take a huge hit if there’s a cluster of special needs kids in town, it makes PTA presidents into assholes. The counter is that if it’s a flow from Trenton/ Richmond/ Sackamenna then there’s no one local thinking about prudence, and you send kids off to $80000 a year special residential schools without adequate thought.
Laura, your new career is somewhere in this: special ed provision is a MESS, and there’s lot of anguish about getting it right. There’s got to be a job in there somewhere!
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“They were built for New York City’s upper middle class, and they continue to owned by the same type of people, only these ones wear Lulumon yoga pants. These homes scream “GOOD TASTE.” It’s hard to hate people who understand how to preserve old woodwork and how to arrange artwork. I’m shallow like that”.
Why is it shallow to have good taste? I don’t think that it’s mutually exclusive with being thoughtful and responsible or a good citizen or well educated.
There are just as many blowhards with money as there are blowhards without money. If someone values status, then no matter how wealthy or poor they are, they will find some way to live that value. Here in Vancouver housing is insanely expensive, as you may know. For those who are competitive and cannot compete financially, it’s a competition over who is the most “eco” or living the most sustainably.
Same snobbiness, just a different measuring stick.
Not everyone with money is shallow just as not everyone with less money is virtuous.
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