Irvine should be grateful

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Bk,

Go to 4th Street near Main for what you miss

Trrenter,

Sorry for being alittle passionate on this subject. I am not going to kid you. I, also, am concern with the issue as to what affects it has on the city. I guess I see the "kids" involved and not the other elements to this issue. Hopefully, it turns out okay for everyone.
 
This is hard topic because it's a chicken and egg debate.. . . does low income lead to lower education or does lower education lead to low income.

Low income students face so many problems outside of school. Gangs, shootings, low expectations, lack of support from their families, need to help their parents to raise their siblings, etc. Many low-income parents work extremely hard just to support their family and have little to give in the way of helping their kids out in school. Most of the parents do not even speak English or have a high school education. There are also many low-income parents who use school as public day care.

If low income students move into Irvine, they'll have less problems to face than if they live in south central. Education and grades will become a priority because the community expects high standards. However, you may still get a lot of families that do not give a darn about their kids' education.
 
Irvinecommuter,

That's true too. There are those that will take advantage of the opportunity. Then there are those who are given the opportunity and wouldn't "give a darn".
 
If you're good enough to bag my groceries, you're good enough to be my neighbor.

Take a look at this list, and scroll down to Irvine:

http://www.ochousing.org/rent_afford_listb.asp

You'll notice many wait lists are closed, or have 5-10 year wait list.

I wouldn't call someone making 50% of our local median income to be "poor". Or perhaps the new phrase is "working poor"? With Prop 13, we have less RE liquidity and some people are "house poor" as the result. If people are forced to buy or rent far away from work to afford housing, that explains why we have so many cars on the freeway. More affordable housing for folks who work in our city = less traffic on the road.

Public education, like public access to beaches, was never intended to be exclusive. Are we going to learn from those Malibu homeowners and send bulldozers to pile sand beams across our city and post "no trespassing" signs?
 
Low-income school districts also have to face more issues than higher-income ones. Financially, they have less money to draw upon (lower property tax) and have to pay for things like extra security and metal detectors. The schools are also generally older and thus require more maintenance and repairs. Since many of the lower-income students are English learners, teachers have to spend more time teaching basic language skills while the schools have to spend money on language specialists and ESL classes. Additionally, there are more issues of vandalism and crime in lower-income neighborhoods. Teachers who teach at lower-income district are more stressed out and much more likely to get burnt out resulting in high turnover.

Higher income schools have the money and less need and thus could spend money on extra programs, specialized teachers, extra equipment. Irvine schools have specialized math, science, and physical education teachers and programs. The main teachers don't even have to teach those subjects. In addition to the extra tutoring that most irvine kids get outside of school, it is not a coincidence that they do well.
 
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