Myth of Poverty in Howard County- Can that be an argument to start delayed Online class?
[1]
When rest of the developed and underdeveloped countries have moved their schools online due to Corona Pandemic, Howard County, the second richest district [1] in the most powerful country in the world, couldn't make any affirmative decision quickly to move their school and teaching online. The administration came up with an argument that "many" of the HoCo families are poor. Poor enough not to have even WiFi which costs only $20 to install and $9.25 to run. Some claimed there are children of the homeless as well in a county whose median household income is $122k ( National average $63k) with a poverty rate of 5.2% [2].
How poverty threshold is determined in USA? Or how could I get an estimate of 5.2% poor people's income in Howard county ? When I looked into US definition of poverty limit, it's a complex measure [3]. But by 2019 measure, here are some useful numbers :
Family of 1,2,3 children under 18 [ and a family size of respectively 3,4,5 ] ( I am sticking to 80-20 rule of counting) -annual household incomes should be less than USD 20.5k, 25.9k and 30.5k. Rational is simple. We are not talking about all families, but families with Children only.
FARM guideline can also throw light into poverty in HoCo [4].
Household size of 3,4,5 ( thus most likely 1,2,3 kids) -these numbers will be
USD 39k, 47k and 55.8k. These are the salary of the most of the school teachers and slightly below average national household income . So when you draw an argument that FARM students can't afford WiFi or a $200 laptop, that is an untenable argument.
Median house occupancy of Howard county is 2.7. Which means on average most of the families have only one or two kids as opposed to myths of large family.
[2]
Now get into an argument of whether FARM students can have WiFi. I guess FARM criteria can't be used. Because if I use FARM criteria, then answer is absolutely yes, they can afford WiFi. But it is better to use poverty criteria which has lower threshold and we know we have 5% of them in HoCo.
So let's get into another research of who in USA can afford Internet, Smart Phones, Tablet etc.
Best thing to know in this respect, Federal Govt already has a assistance program to help low income families to get internet connection. They need to pay as low as $10 per month. And criteria is 130% of Poverty level or below [5].
Now let us explore who avail such programs and what is the percentage of broadband penetration. In Maryland it is around 90% . The rest 10% are mainly in rural communities and certainly not due to poverty. In Howard County it is 96.5% [6]
[3]
So what is the bottomline? It is clear only 3% of the families may not be having adequate broadband. I do not believe even 3% number. Because families who do not have broadband may be older couple or visiting single person family who can survive on 4G. But for the sake of benefit, let us assume 3% of the students do not have broadband.
They are all eligible for Govt assistance and can get a broadband at $9.25 per month. They can't afford even $9.25 per month.? Well then check out how much they are paying for monthly rent. Since we can assume they are bottom 3%-we can easily get an estimate of bottom 3% rate in Howard County.
There are approx. 59 low cost apartment community in HoCo [7] I tried to explore the rental range and based on published rate lowest will be $750 per month.
So do I have to believe the 3% families who are paying $750 per month and earning around $2500 per month ( based on poverty rate ) can't afford $9.25 per month for the education of their children?
And for this, HoCo online program has to be started 3-5 weeks later than most of the neighboring school districts?
You call that an argument for equity? I will leave that judgement to erudite residents of HoCo.
[4]
So what is my conclusion?
This is what I believe and I want to summarize. People will feel offended but someone has to tell this bitter truth.
Most of the HoCo families are well to do as evidenced by the fact its median household income is second highest in the whole country. Also most of the families moved here ( rich and poor) for better education of their children. Therefore it has huge immigration population.
Most of the residents are not politically aware of HoCo Politics. Most of the Indian families I know won't be able to tell name of the any single HoCo Councilor. Or which district they live in. Even my wife doesn't know it and therefore she refused to cast her ballot in last local election. And she will cry against redistricting! And she is not an exception. She is the norm among immigrants. Most of the residents are so contended ( till redistricting happened), they thought other people will take care of their political interest.
The situation has been exploited by the deep blue political base and politicians. You or me, may not like their leftist agenda or pretension of equity or the way they are destroying HoCo school system, but fact is- they cast their vote. Your or your families don't. They are united. And they vote as deep blue block. They are part of Bernie Army. They are very well connected among themselves to further their political interest. They interact among themselves in Whatsapp and FB groups. They will troll against you in every FB group. Else there is no way, Kweisi Mfume can win with 24PC margin in primary! With so many scandals shadowing him! That's the power of deep blue unity and if you are not yet aware of that-be aware and prepare to work hard.
You and me, may feel depressed about the fact, they are not thinking of their kids even. Because of the delay of the online class, who have suffered the worst? Certainly not the kids of privileged families who parents can guide them. Keep tutors for them. The decision has hurt that poorest 5% families where parents can't help their kids in academics. So these politicians are harming those whom they pretend to protect.
But that is the history of all left politics throughout the world. They hurt most whom they pretend to protect!
So please educate your neighbors about HoCo BOE candidates this year. I will personally distribute a memo of whom I would like to vote and why so that many immigrants who do not have any clue can take their decision wisely. I would encourage all the HoCo members to educate their neighbors. Or else, our children will suffer at the hand of this incompetent administration.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States
[2]https://datausa.io/profile/geo/howard-county-md
[3]https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html
[4]https://www.hcpss.org/food-services/farms/#chart
[5] https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/are-there-government-programs-to-help-me-get-internet-service
[6] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/howardcountymaryland
[7] https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-search/Maryland/Howard-County
When rest of the developed and underdeveloped countries have moved their schools online due to Corona Pandemic, Howard County, the second richest district [1] in the most powerful country in the world, couldn't make any affirmative decision quickly to move their school and teaching online. The administration came up with an argument that "many" of the HoCo families are poor. Poor enough not to have even WiFi which costs only $20 to install and $9.25 to run. Some claimed there are children of the homeless as well in a county whose median household income is $122k ( National average $63k) with a poverty rate of 5.2% [2].
How poverty threshold is determined in USA? Or how could I get an estimate of 5.2% poor people's income in Howard county ? When I looked into US definition of poverty limit, it's a complex measure [3]. But by 2019 measure, here are some useful numbers :
Family of 1,2,3 children under 18 [ and a family size of respectively 3,4,5 ] ( I am sticking to 80-20 rule of counting) -annual household incomes should be less than USD 20.5k, 25.9k and 30.5k. Rational is simple. We are not talking about all families, but families with Children only.
FARM guideline can also throw light into poverty in HoCo [4].
Household size of 3,4,5 ( thus most likely 1,2,3 kids) -these numbers will be
USD 39k, 47k and 55.8k. These are the salary of the most of the school teachers and slightly below average national household income . So when you draw an argument that FARM students can't afford WiFi or a $200 laptop, that is an untenable argument.
Median house occupancy of Howard county is 2.7. Which means on average most of the families have only one or two kids as opposed to myths of large family.
[2]
Now get into an argument of whether FARM students can have WiFi. I guess FARM criteria can't be used. Because if I use FARM criteria, then answer is absolutely yes, they can afford WiFi. But it is better to use poverty criteria which has lower threshold and we know we have 5% of them in HoCo.
So let's get into another research of who in USA can afford Internet, Smart Phones, Tablet etc.
Best thing to know in this respect, Federal Govt already has a assistance program to help low income families to get internet connection. They need to pay as low as $10 per month. And criteria is 130% of Poverty level or below [5].
Now let us explore who avail such programs and what is the percentage of broadband penetration. In Maryland it is around 90% . The rest 10% are mainly in rural communities and certainly not due to poverty. In Howard County it is 96.5% [6]
[3]
So what is the bottomline? It is clear only 3% of the families may not be having adequate broadband. I do not believe even 3% number. Because families who do not have broadband may be older couple or visiting single person family who can survive on 4G. But for the sake of benefit, let us assume 3% of the students do not have broadband.
They are all eligible for Govt assistance and can get a broadband at $9.25 per month. They can't afford even $9.25 per month.? Well then check out how much they are paying for monthly rent. Since we can assume they are bottom 3%-we can easily get an estimate of bottom 3% rate in Howard County.
There are approx. 59 low cost apartment community in HoCo [7] I tried to explore the rental range and based on published rate lowest will be $750 per month.
So do I have to believe the 3% families who are paying $750 per month and earning around $2500 per month ( based on poverty rate ) can't afford $9.25 per month for the education of their children?
And for this, HoCo online program has to be started 3-5 weeks later than most of the neighboring school districts?
You call that an argument for equity? I will leave that judgement to erudite residents of HoCo.
[4]
So what is my conclusion?
This is what I believe and I want to summarize. People will feel offended but someone has to tell this bitter truth.
Most of the HoCo families are well to do as evidenced by the fact its median household income is second highest in the whole country. Also most of the families moved here ( rich and poor) for better education of their children. Therefore it has huge immigration population.
Most of the residents are not politically aware of HoCo Politics. Most of the Indian families I know won't be able to tell name of the any single HoCo Councilor. Or which district they live in. Even my wife doesn't know it and therefore she refused to cast her ballot in last local election. And she will cry against redistricting! And she is not an exception. She is the norm among immigrants. Most of the residents are so contended ( till redistricting happened), they thought other people will take care of their political interest.
The situation has been exploited by the deep blue political base and politicians. You or me, may not like their leftist agenda or pretension of equity or the way they are destroying HoCo school system, but fact is- they cast their vote. Your or your families don't. They are united. And they vote as deep blue block. They are part of Bernie Army. They are very well connected among themselves to further their political interest. They interact among themselves in Whatsapp and FB groups. They will troll against you in every FB group. Else there is no way, Kweisi Mfume can win with 24PC margin in primary! With so many scandals shadowing him! That's the power of deep blue unity and if you are not yet aware of that-be aware and prepare to work hard.
You and me, may feel depressed about the fact, they are not thinking of their kids even. Because of the delay of the online class, who have suffered the worst? Certainly not the kids of privileged families who parents can guide them. Keep tutors for them. The decision has hurt that poorest 5% families where parents can't help their kids in academics. So these politicians are harming those whom they pretend to protect.
But that is the history of all left politics throughout the world. They hurt most whom they pretend to protect!
So please educate your neighbors about HoCo BOE candidates this year. I will personally distribute a memo of whom I would like to vote and why so that many immigrants who do not have any clue can take their decision wisely. I would encourage all the HoCo members to educate their neighbors. Or else, our children will suffer at the hand of this incompetent administration.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States
[2]https://datausa.io/profile/geo/howard-county-md
[3]https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html
[4]https://www.hcpss.org/food-services/farms/#chart
[5] https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/are-there-government-programs-to-help-me-get-internet-service
[6] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/howardcountymaryland
[7] https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-search/Maryland/Howard-County
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