Submitted by freecain t3_yqu7ov in ColumbiaMD
hoco718 t1_ivrtrau wrote
Chen / McCoy voter here. One thing to just put context in on here is that this is a BOE election, so the scope of what they affect is limited compared to say county council, and two, whoever wins is part of a larger council.
I'm center/a little left leaning, which means I often dislike parts of both DNC and GOP candidate’s platforms. This BOE was no exception. Pretty much my strategy every time I vote is prioritizing what is the most important to me combined with who I think can win.
- Focus on school building infrastructure and the academics,and not getting caught up in the rest of politics (Again, these candidates are for BOE and NOT county council. What they do is limited.)
- I’m generally against redistricting/ bussing. (Mostly because redistricting can cause the value of your home to swing wildly and I am hoping to move to a different home within HoCo in the next few years, and I think everyone here knows how much homes are here.)
- I’m generally in favor of having SROs. (In addition to specially trained mental health staff. Aka do both strategies) I think overall HCPD has a pretty good relationship with the community and they provide essential services.
I am generally in favor of LGBTQIA+ and do not see a point to book bans, however, in this case it wasn’t high enough on the priority list compared to the other issues. I’m not really on the ‘Equity’ bandwagon for this one because it would likely promote redistricting. Chen hits the 3 biggest priorities for me. McCoy is better than Newberger as McCoy is currently undecided on SROs. Adler didn't stand a chance as she puts a ton of ‘culture war’ vibes out.
dirtycrabcakes t1_ivurwy2 wrote
>I’m generally against redistricting/ bussing. (Mostly because redistricting can cause the value of your home to swing wildly and I am hoping to move to a different home within HoCo in the next few years, and I think everyone here knows how much homes are here.)
I'm annoyed saddened that this is considered a reasonable stance.
hoco718 t1_ivv98qc wrote
Since this makes you sad, maybe I can help rationalize it?
Whether we like it or not, school district has a huge impact on home value. You're asking a small number of people in redistricted areas to pay the entire cost of equity. 10-20% of a home's value is equal to a down payment. That is a ton of money... Tens of thousands of dollars. I'm not rich and people (including myself) spent many many years to save up for it. No one wants to be the unlucky ones who have to pay for it all.
It's actually sort of poetic that you want to "promote equity" in such an inequitable way.
I'd consider supporting measures addressing equity if the burden wasn't placed on a concentrated segment of people. History tells me the people who feel the brunt of redistricting aren't going to be the "rich, wealthy, and privileged". Those polygons don't change.
Edit: Formatting.
dirtycrabcakes t1_ivvbe49 wrote
First off - it's not the County's responsibility to protect your home values. That should have ZERO consideration when it comes to EDUCATIONAL decisions.
We are talking about property values in the one of the wealthiest counties in one of the the wealthiest states. Property values are not a "concern" here. And perhaps property values would not vary so widely, if certain communities didn't work so hard to segregate themselves from those they see themselves as better than.
And here's what makes me sad. Columbia has it written into it's core values that it is a community of shared resources and actively looks to integrate communities of varying economic status, attending the same schools, etc.
Then you have communities like Maple Lawn the get built overnight, sit nearly vacant for years before the demand catches up. Then once demand is there and people say "now we need affordable housing" and Maple Lawn residents say "oh but the infrastructure can't support it!!!" And they spend all of their money and political capital to keep "the poors" away from their community. No - they must go live in Columbia. And so what happens? You successfully segregate yourselves. And then the schools become segregated. And now the board has to resort to redistricting in order to correct that.
It's modern day segregation hidden behind property values. So yeah... pay the fuck up.
hoco718 t1_ivveloz wrote
You might not like/disagree with it, but I'm just explaining why some people don't want redistricting. You're still putting the burden unfairly on a small number of households which I think is wrong.
Why shouldn't property values be considered in educational decisions? Last I remembered... Property taxes pay for education?
I'd say if there was a county-paid reimbursement for homeowners/values that are affected from redistricting then it would be A'Okay with me-- that means everyone is equally paying for the cost/raise taxes. However, I doubt that would get support and it's easier to mess with a small number of polygons/people.
Edit: I wanted to add a bit more about racial claims. It's not about segregation, at least not for Chen.
This is the demographics of HoCo schools: https://www.hcpss.org/about-us/facts/
These are the demographics of the schools his kids attend:
https://www.hcpss.org/f/schools/profiles/prof_es_hammond.pdf
https://www.hcpss.org/f/schools/profiles/prof_ms_hammond.pdf
https://www.hcpss.org/f/schools/profiles/prof_hs_reservoir.pdf
They are actually pretty close to HoCo average.
SuddenBird4926 t1_ivt1pu1 wrote
McCoy is not undecided on SROs. There is video of her stance. She is against and feels staff should be trained in conflict resolution. McCoy also favors busing kids all over the county in the name of equity.
Reading comments like this, it becomes clear why the state of things in our schools is the way that it is.
Precious-Teacup-1619 t1_ivu845n wrote
These are the statements from McCoy on SROs. She said she is undecided.
SuddenBird4926 t1_ivxuqcs wrote
Sure. There are plenty of clips of her saying otherwise but I am not going to waste my time. The 2 candidates who said the least are in the lead. I cannot wait for all the outrage once this terrible BOE gets rolling. Lol.
[deleted] t1_ivtcs5h wrote
[deleted]
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