"We Already Have School Choice": No We Do Not (Yet)

I have heard this misconception frequently: "We already have school choice!" in the state of California. This one myth, which California residents should resist upon hearing, that we already have school choice in this state, cannot be stifled soon enough.

School choice by its very definition would permit every parent to choose where they send their children to school. The reality in the state of California by far disputes this myth:

My parents had to provide a false address in order to take my sister and me out of failing Los Angeles schools and enroll in nearby Torrance Unified. Later on, my parents moved into Torrance, then moved out once again. Even though I was a top student in my class, my father had to drive every year to Downtown Los Angeles to get the permit for me to enroll in Torrance schools. Yet during my senior year, the dean informed me that Los Angeles Unified wanted to pull my permit and force me out of the school.

Because state funding continues to decline, Los Angeles Unified floated the option of rescinding its district permits. The firestorm which erupted forced the school board to back off, for now. Yet to this day, many parents wonder whether they can get an adequate education for their kids.

Charter schools have eaten away at the enrollment for poor schools, thus granting more freedom. Yet school districts have to allow charter schools to operate within their boundaries, and the same districts can refuse or revoke a charter. If choice does exist, the limits are severe, and more often than not students are sand-bagged with a poor school and a poor education.

I have tutored a number of students in the past. Parents have shared with me their struggles to remove their children from low-performing home districts to better ones. A friend of one parent was already rejected from receiving a permit, and she wonders if her child will have an opportunity to learn at a better school. Why do parents have to appeal to their "home district" in the first place? Even now, every public school in California requires incoming students to prove their home address with two proofs of residency — trash, electric, or other utility bills (but no phone bills.)

Beverly Hills Unified has hired investigators to affirm the addressed submitted by Beverly Hills residents. Libertarian journalist investigated the time and expense of school districts to enforce the current residency laws, which bar students outside of the determined zipcode from enrolling their children. When the state funding was diminished, Beverly Hills Unified decided to deny permit renewals for students enrolling from outside the district.

At this time, school choice in its true form does not exist in the state of California. No, we do not have school choice in California, yet. There is an opportunity, however, for the state legislature to remove this officious roadblock which prevents parents from selecting the best public school for their children. SB 451 would extend the limited "Open Enrollment" provision to all students in California. Parents could enroll their children any public school instead of settling for the school in their zipcode. By forcing schools to compete for students, efficiency, innovation, and accountability from the bottom up will help shape public education for the better.

If SB 451 passes, then every California student will have school choice. No longer will students suffering in a classroom with incompetent or immoral teachers have to wait for administration to do something, if anything. Frustrated parents will have the option, the opportunity to choose where their kids go. School administrators will have to respond to the needs and concerns of their students, as opposed to ignoring their concerns. Furthermore, SB 452 and SB 559 will grant parents more power to reform their children's schools, and will give some peace of mind to teachers, who currently absorb pink slips long before school districts know their funding for the next school year.

I appeal to Diana Wallace, to every Democratic leader in Los Angeles County and throughout California: support school choice. Do it because it's right, and do it because it's fair. Governor Pat Brown was never afraid to do the right thing for Californians, even if it was not popular. School choice is the right thing to do, but we do not have it (yet). Help make it happen. Give students and parents the freedom to go to any school they want to, so that they will never have to force themselves through such bureaucratic meddling and hollow rigmarole of petitioning home districts for a permit, which they can refuse to offer.