Losing the Jacket and Tie For Jeans and a T-Shirt

Read the full story here. At the end of August, Gabriel Liegey left his crisp school uniform gathering dust in his closet in favor of jeans and T-shirts. Natalie Medrano and her sister traded a long drive to private school in Frederick for a ride on the school bus with other kids on their block. And Lawson Hamilton gave up an eighth-grade class of 26 for a freshman class of almost 500.

All four joined the rising number of Washington area students who have switched out of private schools this year as financial pressures and the availability of good public schools have made the option irresistible to some.

In Montgomery County, the only jurisdiction in the area that tracks movement between private and public schools, the net number of students who jumped from private to public schools rose to 727 in the 2008-09 school year, according to preliminary figures. That is more than double the number in 2006-07 and the largest total since the county began tracking the numbers in 1988.

Other public schools across the region reported a rise in the number of families transferring in.

"We wouldn't sacrifice our children's education, but we certainly thought this is the time, if any, to check out this incredible school," said Nisi Hamilton, whose son, Lawson, started Walt Whitman High School in August after graduating from the eighth grade at Little Flower, a Catholic school that is also in Bethesda.

Hamilton said two of her four children are in college. Her husband started a second job as a real estate agent just as the financial markets crashed a year ago, adding to his demanding duties as a news cameraman. Hamilton sells a line of clothing out of her home.

"Money is tight, and the economy [stinks]," Hamilton said. "We're here paying taxes for these great schools, and he just seemed like he could handle it," she said.

Many private schools are struggling. Last year, the Archdiocese of Washington closed two schools in Southern Maryland. At least two local independent schools, the Newport School and Thornton Friends School, both in Silver Spring, closed over the summer, as did at least one small religious school, Ambassador Baptist Church Christian School in Anacostia, which taught dozens of D.C. voucher students. And Progressive Christian Academy in Temple Hills filed for bankruptcy late last month, citing financial difficulties from declining enrollment, although it remains open.

Still, serious enrollment problems at private schools appear to be fairly limited, something administrators credit largely to increased financial aid on their part and budget cuts in public schools that have swollen class sizes and reduced services.

Preliminary numbers from the 84 schools of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington show enrollment down 1 percent from last year. All the schools have bolstered their financial aid budgets this year, according to association director Thomas Toch.

A June survey of 213 schools across the country by the National Association of Independent Schools found that the total amount of financial aid awarded for the 2009-10 school year skyrocketed 41 percent from last year.

Enrollment at the D.C. Archdiocese's schools also dropped 1 percent. In Maryland, enrollment at those schools dropped by 3 percent, said Kathy Dempsey, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

Even with increased financial aid, some schools are having a hard time filling everyone's needs.

"We invite families we think will be great fits, but this year we had to inform more of those families than in the past that we couldn't meet their financial aid requests," David Shapiro, head of Edmund Burke School in the District, said in an e-mail. "Some were able to swing it, but some went on our Financial Aid Wait List."

In the 2007-08 school year, the latest for which comprehensive federal data are available, almost 94,000 students in the Washington region attended K-12 private schools, whether independent or religious. About 680,000 students attended the region's public schools in 2008-09.

In some of the area's suburban counties, high-performing public schools make it easier for parents who otherwise would send their children to private schools, some of which raised tuition this year to more than $30,000.

But the transitions aren't always seamless. Natalie Medrano, 16, who until this school year attended the 300-student St. John's Catholic Prep high school in Frederick, said she carried a map for the first few days as she navigated the halls of 2,025-student Northwest High School in Germantown.

"You get lost in that school," she said. But she said she has teachers whom she has enjoyed and counselors who are accessible. She especially likes the way Northwest hums with activity so late into the evening, something she said didn't happen at St. John's because students and teachers were more dispersed.

Natalie's reactions are a relief to her mother, Julia Sanchez-Medrano, who had worried that the transition for Natalie and her younger sister might be difficult but thought that her family had little choice.

"The main reason was financial," she said. With her younger daughter entering high school, the family couldn't afford two $12,495 tuitions at St. John's and didn't think it would be fair to send one daughter to public school and one to private school.

Sanchez-Medrano, who works part time as a bookkeeper and whose husband works as a development specialist for the county, said she misses her daughters' religion classes but has been impressed with teachers and the principal.

One advantage: "It's a lot closer to home," she said. Her daughters now wait at the bus stop with others from the neighborhood.

In some cases, the switch was initiated by the student, leading to proud -- and slightly relieved -- parents with more money in their pockets.

"A lot of my friends were going to Rockville" High School, said Gabriel Liegey, 14, who enrolled this year as a freshman after finishing eighth grade at St. Jude Catholic School in Rockville. He said he was attracted to the school's International Baccalaureate program, something available at few private Catholic schools.

"I just thought if you could get it for free, why not?" he said. Students seem more focused on classes at Rockville than at his old school, he said.

"The major difference is you don't stand for prayers at the beginning of class. That's about it," he said.

Although his parents were initially surprised at his desire to transfer -- his sister, who just went to college, had always gone to Catholic schools -- they came around quickly, his mother said.

"With the economy tanking the way it did, I thought our decision was rather fortuitous," said Marcia Liegey, Gabriel's mother. "It's a relief not to have to pay $20,000 a year for a private education. And it's nice to see your tax dollars at work."