RE: census figures

["Dale Courtney" <dmcourtn@moscow.com>]

Melynda Huskey wrote: 
> But we have exactly no reason to believe that the trend will 
> continue--we 
> don't know enough.  

I'm surprised at this statement. It would seem logical to rather say "we
have no reason to believe that this trend *won't* continue" since you
agree that it is a "trend". 

But the mind justifies what the heart has chosen...

> For example, we don't know at what rate 
> children entered 
> private schools over the decade--was it a steady increase, a 
> sudden bubble? 

Stats for 10 years and 5 years is a sudden bubble? I recommend looking
at the stats for private schooling for 1980. How many homeschoolers did
*you* know (anecdotally) in 1980? Now? 

> And from my point of view, MSD ought to be looking for, and 
> sharing with us, 
> the answers to some of these questions.  There are parents in 
> our community 
> who want only a sectarian education for their children:  MSD 
> will never meet 
> their needs, and shouldn't try.  But there may also be 
> parents who are 
> settling for a sectarian education whose needs could be met 
> more effectively 
> in improved public schools.  We need data, and we can only 
> get that through 
> research.

That will happen. But I'm hoping that whoever does the research is *not*
on the MSD payroll. Whoever has done the stats for them in the past
should be fired. I would recommend having a disinterested party (or
parties) look at these numbers. IMHO, the School Board should pay
someone from WSU or UI with a degree in stats to do this -- and not lie
to bolster their budget. Their game is up!

As soon as I'm caught up on all my work, I'll download the full census
data (all 76 tables) and upload it into Access and run some cross-tabs
to see what gives. 

Dale Courtney
Moscow, Idaho