Property vs Schools
A long time ago, I tried to explain to people how bad schools ruin cities and neighborhoods. Too often, developers and property owners are left in the dark about this. However, parents make a point of picking a house in a good school district. There are sites which help them out. NeighborhoodScout Crime Analytics is one such site (https://www.neighborhoodscout.com).
The Omaha Public School district is huge covering about two-thirds of Omaha. See the district outlined in a red-dotted border below.
Parents make a point of seeking homes located in good school districts and avoid the bad school districts. Many investors and developers are aware of this and invest accordingly. But just how bad are schools in the Omaha area?
Millard school district outshines the state! Look at these test score comparisons.
What about Elkhorn schools? They are up and kicking! Take a look:
What about Westside? Not so good but pulling ahead.
And Ralston? Has to be good cause Scott Voorhees was raised in Ralston, right? Oops! Well, thank goodness Ralston only has about over 3,000 students.
Now, what about the biggest school district in the state with over 50,000 students? The legendary Omaha Public School District? Try terrible.
Many do not understand this relationship between schools, property and development but now, I hope you do. These poor scores ruin property values as parents seek properties out of such poorly run school districts. Make all the defense of the Omaha Public School District you want, but the investors, particularly parents, are making choices as to where to live. The poor cannot do this, thus a cycle of poverty is generated.
And even worse: because of the high property taxes being used to fund a bad school system, the people living there are more likely to be renters and not care about that property or its maintenance in the same way that a homeowner actually living in that property would.
Renters have very little reason to invest.
Landlords know this and they also plan accordingly, with the result that their properties acquire a certain drab utilitarian grimness that just sucks all the life out of a place and lends it an unwelcoming air, if not one of outright danger.
Every time I visit Omaha, I am once again reminded of this. Almost everywhere I look, it's a bit gritty and dingy, a bit unkempt. A bit--run down, and more than a bit depressing. There are neighborhoods that are exceptions, but mostly they're outside the area served by OPS.
And then--if people are too busy paying the bills in rental housing, they're also too busy to pay attention to what their kids are being taught in school or how they're being taught. What a vicious circle!
Here’s a hot one for you: did Cheryl Logan improve (or not) OPS during her five years as superintendent?