A modest step forward: CCSD starts open enrollment
CCSD's only doing it on a limited basis, but it's a start.
The Clark County School District unveiled plans Monday to expand school choice for students in 2011-12, but many of the district's most desirable options probably will be off limits.A full list of available schools is here. Answers to FAQs are here. And if any parents want to apply, they can do so at the CCSD's website.
Current schools of choice, such as magnet and vocational schools, won't be included in the open enrollment plan. Schools that are at or above their normal enrollment capacities also will be excluded.
That would rule out schools such as the Las Vegas Academy, the district's magnet school for the performing arts, and Henderson's Green Valley High School, which is at its enrollment capacity this year. ...
The schools with the space to offer open enrollment will be announced today on the district's website, http://www.ccsd.net/. The list will include 41 elementary schools, 19 percent of district elementary schools; 48 middle schools, 81 percent of district middle schools; and 16 high schools, 33 percent of district high schools.
CCSD should be congratulated for taking a modest step toward recognizing that parents deserve more educational options and choices.
This plan isn't going to solve all or even many of CCSD's problems (and given that parents are responsible for transportation and can't transfer back to their original schools, it has some issues as well). But parents should hope that it's the first of many steps CCSD takes toward increasing educational freedom. Continuing to follow Rory Reid's education plan would be a good place to start.
The only concern here is that school choice skeptics will claim that the level of use the program receives, which I predict will be modest at best, is a sign that parents don't want more educational freedom.
Nevada's parents want school choice. This program is only a small step on the road to true educational freedom.
