Two recent news articles have me thinking. The first is this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about how parents in Ohio and elsewhere have actually been arrested for sending their children to schools to outside-their-boundary schools, and even sued for back tuition. Praise the Lord for Utah's open enrollment law that allows parents to send their child to any school in the state.
The second piece is this one about the Canyons district drawing new boundaries for all schools as it changes its grade configuration.
I have some unsolicited and sure-to-be-ignored advice for Canyons: eliminate your boundaries. I know, I know, boundaries mean something to you, especially when it comes to transportation. But why not make school boundaries just transportation boundaries. Tell parents that we'll give you a free ride to School A, but just fill out a simple form and you can attend School B, or C.
Want to find out what parents really value in education? Let them choose among many options. You'll find really fast what parents want to see in a school. Worried about parents all choosing to attend the same few schools? Why? What about those schools is drawing parents to them? (Hint: It's not small class sizes if parents all choose to attend schools that get crowded through the exercise of choice.)
It would also give the district a chance to try pilot programs with curriculum, schedules, teaching methods, and more to find out what works.
Make your school boundaries nothing more than free bus ride lines, and you'll see what your customers truly want from you.
1 comment:
Lincoln, we basically already have that in Utah and more. The open enrollment law says that a student can attend any school that he or she wants where there is room. This means that a student from Canyons could attend any school in Canyons, or Jordan, Granite, Murray, Salt Lake, etc. They only need to provide the transportation as you suggest.
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