Two other aspects–MP may be simply getting older. A lot of the houses were built in 1960s, and those people still live there.
Also, I wonder if more $$ means more people using private schools. That said the parochial school we have one kid at has had a lower enrollment the last 2 years for Kindergarten. But there are a lot of private schools opening up on the peninsula.
It’d be interesting to compare it to Redwood City which i was under the impression was getting more crowded.
"The numbers are significant because the Menlo Park district, along with the Woodside, Portola Valley and Las Lomitas districts, is “community funded” (formerly called “basic aid”), meaning it receives most of its revenue from local sources. Little of the funding is tied to enrollment. The local revenue sources include property taxes, parcel taxes and donations.
In the Menlo Park district, lower enrollment could ease the district’s budget woes. Consultants had previously predicted the district would have 3,151 students in 2020 and 3,280 in 2025. The new projection shows 2,939 students in 2020 and 2,979 in 2023. Enrollment in October of 2017 was 2,972."
Unless they layoff teachers or administrators, how much will this actually impact their budget? In theory, they could layoff 10-12 teachers but will they?
510 8th ave. is North fair oaks–Redwood City schools–Garfield which is NOT high rated. [Also Kennedy middle school is not high rated. But it is zoned for Menlo Atherton which is high rated. Mixed bag.]
Also these are prices from October. Maybe I ran today’s search wrong, but that’s all I saw for Menlo Park schools was $3M and up.
Don’t forget that it goes both directions. More kids → lower income. For sure, our income would be way higher if I didn’t have 3 kids. The potential is there, the time is not.
Even if your house in “good school zone” (considering that you just moved to your new house) it does not guarantee that your kids will go to particular school.
"-No openings. Thats it. Period. Go to XYZ school"
That s exactly what happened to family i know in Mountain View.
Another fortress school district in financial stress caused by falling enrollments:
Prices go up because schools are good. Makes it harder for young families to move in / have kids. Causes enrollment to fall. Results in lower funding because of how CA funds their schools. Where is it going to leave the school district moving forward…
btw, a fair number of parents in my social circle are starting to talk about private schools