Even as middle-class living conditions have improved only modestly, the burden of paying for a home has increased dramatically. Over a generation, the average number of rooms in a home increased by seven percent as average mortgage expenses increased by 69 percent—at a time when other family expenses were falling. The impact of rising mortgage costs has been huge. The proportion of families who are “house-poor”—that is, who spend more than 35 percent of their incomes on housing—has quadrupled in a single generation.

The major reason middle-class families are willing to shell out so much of their incomes on housing is that “when a family buys a house, it buys much more than shelter from the rain”; more to the point, it “buys a public-school system.” “Talk with an average middle-class parent in any major metropolitan area,” they say, “and she’ll describe the time, money, and effort she  devoted to finding a slot in a decent school.” They note that, “For most middle-class parents, ensuring that their children get a decent education means buying a home in a small subset of well-reputed school districts.”

Right now, many middle-class parents complacently believe that things are great in their neighborhood public schools. Is that belief largely true or an illusion? If the latter, then bold action on the part of middle-class parents is overdue.

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