Replied to Jennifer Hall Lee: In Pasadena, the Fund-Raising for Schools Reflects the Income Inequality in Society by Diane Ravitch (Diane Ravitch's blog)

Jennifer Hall Lee is a parent activist in Pasadena, California. She wrote this article about the different amounts of money available to different types of schools in Pasadena. Remember that one of…

It’s probably also worth noting that the Pasadena School district was one of the first in the country to begin busing in the early 70’s. This caused a dramatic split in the community and created a dramatic rise in the number of private schools here.

Private schools were not included in this new plan [busing], and because of that, people who didn’t agree with the plan — and could afford it — sent their kids to affluent private schools. This lead to around 30 private schools (currently 53) being present in the city of Pasadena.

—Roxanne Elhachem, Colorado Boulevard.net

To my knowledge there are easily about 20 private elementary schools within Pasadena with tuitions beginning at $15,000 per year and going up as high as $40,000+/year. The wealth disparities within Pasadena are pulling so many students out of public schools and into private schools has also caused the city to begin significantly cutting back on budgets and closing/consolidating schools to stay solvent.