District Debates Using Income in Assigning Pupils

By Mark Walsh

The Cambridge, Mass., school district is considering introducing socioeconomic factors into its complex, nationally renowned student-assignment plan for elementary schools.

The Boston suburb's "controlled choice" desegregation plan has been widely hailed for achieving racial balance in the 8,200-student district. Under the plan, parents apply for their choice of schools, then administrators try to meet those requests while maintaining racial balance among the district's 15 elementary schools.

As part of long-range planning for the controlled-choice program, district officials recently have gingerly raised the idea of adding such factors as parents' income and education...