Rhode Island could soon have a law that would assign students to charter schools and require them to opt out if they prefer to attend a different school.
State Rep. David Segal, who is proposing the legislation, dropped me a line after reading my piece about DPS hoping to make two new campuses of the West Denver Prep charter school neighborhood schools with attendance boundaries.
Segal wrote a thoughtful piece about charter self-selection for the Boston Globe last summer, in which he lays out the rationale for his legislation. Could this be the next big thing in school choice? In any case, it is a fascinating development. Has anyone heard of it happening elsewhere?
Popularity: 17% [?]
It’s an interesting and thoughtful argument, and I don’t know Rhode Island, but in Denver the two tiers of more and less interested parents is not divided into Charters and District schools (I would also contend that many of the parents labeled “disinterested” simply have never been given a viable opportunity to express their interest, but that is a different piece).
Interested parents in Denver make choices within the public school system into selective programs all the time (my earlier piece: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_13330053). Often these choices are masked in the purchase of a house, which in essence allows affluent families to buy their preferred place in the public system. Most (and virtually all) of the good district schools are either in high-income neighborhoods, or they select kids.
What would be truly revolutionary would be a bill that prevents ALL schools – charter and district — from selective enrollment policies. But I don’t think that is a good idea, even if it were politically or practically possible.
District schools in Denver — and I suspect in Rhode Island as well — have a variety of enrollment strategies. It makes sense to me that Charters could have varied enrollment as well (but would still be more open than selective schools). But if you are going to legislate that Charters should include “opt out” policies, why not extend the same requirements on all public schools?