Regarding David’s previous entry on the proposed moratorium for adding on to inner city homes, I find the cover story of the Austin Chronicle rather enlightening. Another proposal, this time facing the Austin Independent School District, suggests closing under-enrolled schools (like our own Brentwood Elementary) starting with Becker Elementary and bussing the children to other nearby under-enrolled schools. Parents are enraged citing race and class discrimination; the issue is driven by taxes and funding, not by the quality of education (with fewer students per teacher, the quality is actually quite high).

[T]he trend is family flight, leaving central cities increasingly to singles, child-free couples, and empty-nesters. . . The issue is not only cost, but space as well — the charm of tiny, historic cottages wears off as the kids get waist-high, such that many children born in Austin move elsewhere by kindergarten . . . Thus, the same single-family homes that kept central Austin schools full a generation ago are now coming up short. . . The causes are many, but the end result is half-empty schools.

The Chronicle cites an unlikely solution:

Could Bouldin — and other neighborhoods — reverse the trend? Maybe. Thanks to infill, a city density survey shows Bouldin Creek adding some 150 housing units in the last five years. Just up the street from Becker, for example, a tall, angular glass-and-concrete dwelling stands out among the neighborhood’s traditional cottages like a transporter for beaming Scandinavian spacemen to Marfa. It’s from homes like these that Bouldin Creek promises to breathe new life into Becker; many residents say a baby boom is already under way.

Could McMansions be the answer to punishing Austin’s inner-city children for White Flight?

Part of that balance is recognizing that AISD can help attract families to the urban core, but it can’t do it alone. For one thing, those families need places to live. Assuming we’re not about to force all the singles and the child-free to move to Circle C, that means more houses. So, it’s ironic that some of the same groups citing Envision Central Texas as one of the moral imperatives for AISD’s keeping schools open are often at the forefront of opposing density. South Austin neighborhood groups, for example, have fought condo projects in the area, even those on existing commercial corridors. . . If Austin is to achieve ECT, then, keeping neighborhood schools open is only part of the equation. The two processes feed each other, as greater density fuels the schools, and beloved schools like Becker give parents a reason to stay.