Ouch! If estimates are correct, the private school pull of 900
students from the Gilroy Unified School District costs our local
public schools $4,230,000
– each year.
Ouch! If estimates are correct, the private school pull of 900 students from the Gilroy Unified School District costs our local public schools $4,230,000 – each year. That’s the amount of money the school district would receive annually in state average daily attendance funds if all those children attended GUSD schools.
It’s time the district found a way to stem the tide of parents taking their students out of our local public schools.
A good first step would be to survey families who send their children to private schools to find out why the choose to spend thousands of dollars a year and endure transportation and scheduling hassles to avoid GUSD schools. Second, district leaders should hold two round table discussions with parents who are interested in discussing the issue with officials.
Granted, some parents are looking for a religious education and there’s nothing the district would be able to do to attract them to our local public schools.
But if a focus group of local private school parents was convened, we believe GUSD officials would learn more about safety and discipline concerns, dislike of poorly maintained facilities, and insufficient challenges for GATE and honors students.
Besides the dollars that leave the district, these students represent a brain drain from Gilroy schools.
It also often means that motivated, concerned and involved parents are expending their time and energy on behalf of a private school, rather than our local public schools.
Gilroy Unified School District officials should make it a priority to take steps now to learn why so many families are sending their students to private schools – always expensive and frequently far away from home – rather than sending them to their local public schools.
We think they’d learn valuable lessons about how to improve and market Gilroy schools, lessons that would benefit all our students and the entire community.
