At the Los Angeles Unified School District, choice is no longer a decision whether to go to your neighborhood school or apply to a private school.  Choice is embracing the idea that stakeholders must play a major role in establishing and governming their neighborhood schools.  Not only do I fully support the concept, I want to see it implemented district-wide.  Before we arrive at that point, however, the District and the Board must agree on a plan that allows for extensive community involvement while avoiding a political circus. 

LAUSD parents today have more options than ever before in deciding where to enroll their children.  There are more charter schools in LA Unified than anywhere in the country.  The District also has nationally-recognized magnet schools, schools with small learning communities, academies, pilot "zones of choice," schools established under the Innovation Division, and district schools.  There are still other  possibilities  for students who have not been successful on a traditional school campus.  Parents and students have options, but we need more.  

Last month, Birmingham High School became Birmingham Community Charter High School, a conversion charter.  Among other things, the vote reaffirmed the notion that parents, students, teachers, and administrators know best what works at their own school site.  Switching to charter gives the school the chance to move forward with fresh, innovative ideas, freed from many of the restrictions of the Education Code. The rise of the charter movement – there are now well over 100 such schools in the District – is one of the most important and valuable components of the movement for choice.  But there is much more that needs to be done. 

My goal is to create a workable and efficient system that gives communities a greater role in choosing and governming their local school.  For too long, the District has adopted a “take it or leave it” approach regarding the kinds of schools allowed to operate in a particular neighborhood.  At the risk of stating the obvious, what works for students in Porter Ranch does not necessarily work for students in Hollywood, and vice versa.

This September, over 30 schools are going to be piloting a per-pupil budgeting model that drastically alters the way money is handled at LAUSD.  Several months ago, Superintendent Cortines distributed federal Title I stimulus dollars to qualified school sites and let them decide how to spend the money.  For years, the District has talked about empowering local school sites to make decisions about how money is spent at their schools.  When it actually happened this year, not everyone was comfortable with the decisions that the schools made, but that is part of the growth process.

When it comes to allowing stakeholders to choose who should run the local school, the District needs to push forward after considering some tough questions about how this policy will be implemented.  Everyone needs to know which stakeholders are to be involved, how applicants are to be judged, what potential operators are allowed and not allowed to do in presenting their case, and what role the Board has.  The last thing we need in this city is another expensive competition for votes.

When the District and the Board, along with stakeholders, take the time to develop a sound and sensible plan, we can all celebrate the dawn of a new era at LAUSD.