Appreciate the summary and call outs. With declining BPS enrollment I am interested in how much the electorate cares about . . . BPS. Not sure whether "the electorate" are the 245,000 voters in the 2024 Presidential election rather than the 140,000 in a typical mayoral race.
This is a really good question that does not have a really good answer. It is something that a lot of people are thinking about. Over the course of the BPS-DESE report being together it was one of the top buckets of feedback that BPI received - along the lines of "how much do voters/parents/residents/elected officials care about BPS?" It has also been a top topic of discussion since it came out.
The real question is what happens for public school systems when the percentage of households with kids in public school in any municipality dips. Public school enrollment is roughly 7% of Boston's population compared to 12%+ in many of its larger suburbs (and as high as 20% in Medfield types). Even NYC's public school enrollment is more like 11%. While a 4-5% difference might not seem like much it is a 50% difference. So even if you don't have children in public schools you are more likely to have a neighbor with kids in school and maybe you care a little bit more. .
Appreciate the summary and call outs. With declining BPS enrollment I am interested in how much the electorate cares about . . . BPS. Not sure whether "the electorate" are the 245,000 voters in the 2024 Presidential election rather than the 140,000 in a typical mayoral race.
This is a really good question that does not have a really good answer. It is something that a lot of people are thinking about. Over the course of the BPS-DESE report being together it was one of the top buckets of feedback that BPI received - along the lines of "how much do voters/parents/residents/elected officials care about BPS?" It has also been a top topic of discussion since it came out.
BPI's poll last year tried to find some ways to ask this question in our April 2024 poll and MassINC Polling Group also has done a series of polls of BPS parents specifically: https://www.massincpolling.com/our-work/new-poll-drop-in-satisfaction-with-public-schools-among-boston-k-12-parents
The real question is what happens for public school systems when the percentage of households with kids in public school in any municipality dips. Public school enrollment is roughly 7% of Boston's population compared to 12%+ in many of its larger suburbs (and as high as 20% in Medfield types). Even NYC's public school enrollment is more like 11%. While a 4-5% difference might not seem like much it is a 50% difference. So even if you don't have children in public schools you are more likely to have a neighbor with kids in school and maybe you care a little bit more. .