But that's the thing. The individual property gets fixed. New houses get built. But the community doesn't benefit. The 'new' folks do not integrate into the area. They don't shop local. They don't send their kids to the local schools (and in many cases use their money to legally fight with the district about funding because their kids go to private school). They don't really 'live' out here. They just happen to stay here.

>It sounds like your area had a major influx.

And that was my point - the OP I was responding to said that s/he would welcome tech refugees. I was trying to point out that it's genuinely not all roses and gold. There are specific problems with that influx of people and money.

I know a lot of people who had to move away from rural areas to get tech jobs. I would guess that it wouldn't be so bad if it were those people moving back. Or just people who had a genuine interest in living there. Instead it sounds like it's mostly people who have always lived in the cities that have some idealized view of the country that doesn't actually match the local customs/culture, sort of like gentrification in the cities.

"and in many cases use their money to legally fight with the district about funding because their kids go to private school"

I'd be interested to learn more about this. I grew up in some rural areas and went to private schools but never heard of anything happen like that.

There is a huge push for school vouchers, with about half of our local school board being occupied by folks who have kids who attend the private schools in the closest urban area. These individuals want their property taxes to be given to them as a voucher to use where they please instead of straight to the schools from the state.

There are others who have taken a more direct approach and sue the local districts for 'access' complaints. They claim they should be able to benefit from extracurricular activities in their district (sports, test preparation, science clubs, that sort of thing), like home-school kids can; even though their kids go to private schools. The districts don't have the money to fight lawsuits.

Oh, vouchers in your area. We didnt have that. I guess that was before they were really a thing too.

"They claim they should be able to benefit from extracurricular activities in their district (sports, test preparation, science clubs, that sort of thing), like home-school kids can; even though their kids go to private schools."

If they are paying the money (no vouchers), then I don't see why that's a problem.

Our private school partnered with local public schools on some sports. One local school would send us their soccer players, we would send them our shooters. Another one would send us golf students and our tech students would go to their vo-tech program. You would take drivers ed in whatever district you lived in over the summer. It worked pretty well.