Education

California Commission Backs Open Enrollment

May 29, 1985 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

California students should have the opportunity to enroll in schools outside their neighborhoods, including schools near a parent’s work site, a state commission has recommended to the legislature.

Allowing students to attend schools near their parents’ place of employment is particularly important when the selected school offers before- and after-school programs, concluded the 15-member California Commission on School Governance and Management, which was authorized under the state’s 1983 education-reform law. “This could help to strengthen parent/child/teacher relationships.”

The panel also recommended that the legislature consider allowing open enrollment within communi-ties on a scale larger than just a neighborhood. “Children should not be locked in a single school site that will not or cannot improve itself in spite of significant opportunities to do so,” it said.

The panel’s open-enrollment suggestion, as well as a number of other recommendations, were criticized by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig, who served as an ex-officio member of the panel, and two other panel members.

“California is now embarked on an ambitious program of educational reform emanating from SB 813 and subsequent legislation,” the dissenting members said. “As a result, there could not be a worse time to propose a radical restructuring and reorganization of our school districts.”

The panel also recommended that:

Power, including authority to allocate funds, shift from school-district boards to individual school-site councils whose members could be elected by local voters.

The legislature consider statewide or regional teacher-salary schedules to avoid the “often divisive and debilitating processes” that now occur in collective bargaining.

The legislature place on the state ballot a constitutional amendment that would revoke a portion of Proposition 13, California’s controversial property-tax-limitation measure, and that would allow local voters to approve or disapprove general-obligation bonds for school construction.--Michael Fallon

A version of this article appeared in the May 29, 1985 edition of Education Week as California Commission Backs Open Enrollment

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read