<p>Obviously, students would have to live in the school district, whether that be a country or city system, but other than that, do you have total choice or significant choice where your child can go to school? I am not really talking about charter and magnet programs here, I am talking about the ability to send your child to any school in the district regardless of where you live (or some variation on this.) </p>
<p>If so, can you either respond here or send me a private message with the system’s name. Any other feedback would be welcome as well.</p>
<p>Not around here - there are over 40 separate school districts in my county, most of them only have one middle school, one high school, etc - so no choice to make except where you choose to live. You need to move into whatever district for the school you want to attend.</p>
<p>The entire state of Michigan has schools of choice. You can pick what district your children attend regardless of where you live. </p>
<p>For some schools this has been a boon, a way to pick up additional revenue. In a very few district there is a lottery as there are more people who want to attend than there are seats for them, but that is few and far between.</p>
<p>We have 3 high schools, and if you provide transportation, you can go to any school that is not over enrolled. This applies to all elementary, middle and high schools. Right now, one middle is not accepting out of zone students, and one high school. With the class size amendment numbers in Florida hitting their most restrictive numbers ever this year, this may change. Every district in Florida must now also have a formal virtual school setup as well. Most key in with Florida Virtual School.</p>
<p>we are same as mamabear. We are right outside a crime laden city. The biggest problem we have is parents lying (imagine that!) about where they live and using false addresses to enroll their kids. We are kicking kids out weekly.</p>
<p>In No VA (Prince William), the school system is set up that almost every public HS has some form of magnet. They range from school to school. One maybe IT, one may be dance, one is Cambridge, one is Marine Biology, one is Foreign Language, etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>If the student applies for any of these programs and gets accepted, the student can cross district lines. The problem is you have no school transportation which means a commitment from the parent to get them to and from the school. They only apply once, it is not a yr to yr thing, because the students will graduate with a citation for this program. They are akin to college majors where their curriculum is tied to the program.</p>
<p>It is very popular here. Parents of students in these programs love it because it is something to add on to their college apps.</p>
<p>OBTW, if your child does not get accepted you cannot x district lines, you must attend the assigned hs for your address. The programs are competitive with about only 30-50 kids in each program per class yr. Statistically it ranges from 5-7% of the class. For our DD’s class, there were 3 students out of 28 in the program that were accepted.</p>
<p>As a realtor, the old adage LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION matters in No Va. It is not uncommon here that parents will buy a smaller, older home just to be in that district.</p>
<p>In our district, Carroll County, Md., There are 8 traditional high schools and all the usual elementary/middle feeders. Each spring the school system puts out a notice telling parents it’s time to apply for out-of-zone schools for anyone who’s interested. The notice always lists schools (of all levels) that are full and not taking out of zoners. </p>
<p>I don’t hear too much about kids switching schools because one is better than the other. We’re fortunate; they’re all pretty great and offer the same cirriculum. I think the most common reason is to be closer to day care or a parent’s job. Transportation is the family’s responsibility.</p>
<p>We have 2 vo-techs and 1 alternative high school. The county provides transportation to those, so an out-of-zone req is unnecessary. Likewise, if a student attends her “home zone” school for traditional classes then goes to another school for an “academy” program in the afternoon, the county provides transportation. At the risk of over-generalizing, academies offer the white-collar equivalent to vo-tech.</p>
<p>At our HS district in suburban Chicago, there are 6 high schools each with approximately 2000 students. There are attendance zones which must be followed. The only exception is once you have attended one of the schools, if you move your domicle within the district (which has all or part of 6 fairly large suburbs) you can choose to continue attending your previous school - rather than transfer to the school for your area.</p>
<p>We have both choice and zones here in NYC. At the elementary level, most kids go to neighborhood schools, the rest magnet programs or charters. Demographics are destiny: For the most part, if you’re in a stable middle-class school zone your elementary schooling will be OK. Its more complicated later on, as some parts of the city have zoned middle schools, but for most you have to apply to one of several in the district.</p>
<p>High School? That way madness lies. Every kid MUST apply to high school, even if hes in a neighborhood that has zoned high schools (some still do, most do not). Its like medical residency–kid lists up to 12 choices of HS, from top choice to last and the HS that picks them is where they go. Even if it is a zoned HS kid still has to list it and place it. And all HS have different qualifications in terms of grades, test scres etc. It is hellish. One of mine ended up out of district, one in. </p>
<p>Separate test for admissions to specializied higs schools. (Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, et al)</p>
<p>We have about 12 regular high schools in our area- with clear attendance boundaries although they were just redrawn and my daughters high school( she graduated in '08) now has about 200 more students in the freshman class than the district" expected" ( even though plenty of staff and parents told them in the spring that this would happen)- resulting in overcrowding of classrooms and not enough rooms/teachers to go around.</p>
<p>( meanwhile another nearby high school has about 500-600 students- two principals & extra funding to attract more students- a program which has failed miserably)</p>
<p>I’m in Topeka, Kansas. We have a city school district with attendance zones. Once you start attending the school, you are “grandfathered” in if you move but are still in the district. We have moved a bit and applied for our son to go to the middle school his elementary school fed into, instead of where we moved to. To be approved, the transfer can’t negatively impact the racial balance of the school (no white flight allowed). We have the legacy of Brown v the Topeka Board of Education. They also allow transfers if the attendance school has not met AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for two years.</p>
<p>We also have three neighboring school districts outside of the city limits, and some kids transfer in to our school district (and some city kids probably transfer out). There is a private prep school in our city that goes through 8th grade, and it seems a lot of those kids who do not live in the city limits transfer to our children’s high school due to the number of AP offerings.</p>
<p>Garland, TX - open enrollment in any school K-12, although admission is by lottery to being with. Priority is given to siblings. Back in the day, you used to put your kid on a list for K when they were born. Now you have to wait until 1 yr before they start. D was on the list for one school (with emphasis on G/T and arts) until two weeks before 3rd grade started. We got a call and had 24 hrs to make a decision to switch (from our neighborhood school). S was starting K that year and they couldn’t guarantee him a slot but one opened up 2 days after school started. So…very competitive to get into the “good” schools. </p>
<p>S is sophomore in HS now and in a true magnet (competitive, selective admission). If he fails a class, he gets sent back to neighborhood school.</p>
<p>I will go read about your system on line, but is everyone guaranteed a spot at their home school? Are capacity limits strictly enforce? In other words, can you be shut out of your home school?</p>
<p>We have two high schools in our district and attendance lines are drawn by geographic area. However, one can petition to go to the “other” school if there is a very good reason for it, whether academic or logistic. I know several families who have done that.</p>
<p>Indiana is in the process of changing this in the last 2 years. School funding has shifted from the local property taxes to being paid through the state. One can attend school tuition-free out of their “home” district, although there are some restrictions–new sup’t must accept the student, student must be enrolled by the “count” day in Sept, etc. Transportation isn’t provided to an out-of-district school.</p>