of progressive leadership that has disman- tled and rebuilt failing schools with powerful results, such as increasing test scores. “Choice is a loaded term; we think the
choice is to choice out,” Gervais says. “Te district has to make the difficult decision to close schools that aren’t working and reopen them in a different way to provide better educational opportunities. As a dis- trict, you have this obligation, and, in some instances, transportation is part of that.” DPS enrollment has swelled from 73,018 in 2005–2006 to 78,352 in 2009–2010. With 70 percent of DPS students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, Gervais estimates about 60 percent are eligible to receive transportation under NCLB. Yet only 1,000 students have utilized this option. “We’re seeing a greater number of fami-
lies going back to their neighborhood schools, but we aren’t sure why,” she adds. “We make the assumption that kids stay in their neighborhood because of trans- portation. If transportation were truly the answer, why don’t more kids take advan- tage of NCLB? “I strongly believe it’s because parents
don’t want to leave the neighborhood. Your comfort is in your neighborhood.”
TRANSPORTATION CUTS MAY IMPACT ACCESS UCLA’s Frankenberg agrees that trans-
portation is not the only way to create more racially and socio-economically diverse schools. She cites Berkeley Unified’s “inno- vative approach” in California that assigns a diversity code to a planning area rather than to an individual, which adheres to the 2007 Supreme Court ban on race-based desegregation. However, Frankenberg is troubled by the decisions of districts such as Wake County in Charlotte, N.C., which recently ended a desegregation plan pro- viding cross-district transportation in favor of a neighborhood choice plan. “Because so many of the higher perform-
ing schools located in white, middle-class neighborhoods are filled to capacity, this eliminated that choice for students not living in those neighborhoods,” says Fran- kenberg, who tracks school districts that are ending transportation services. Segregation is still high in most commu- nities, she says, which is “a real problem” in
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terms of equal opportunities in education because transportation is often seen as a lux- ury instead of an essential part of public education, especially for impoverished students. “We have to think about access and equity issues there as well. Transportation is im-
portant for families of all backgrounds,” she adds. “Even if school choice is available, low-income families might not have a real choice in terms of being able to transport their child to a particular school outside of their neighborhood.” ■
Read legal expert and STN contributor Peggy A. Burns’ take at
www.stnonline.com/go/543. Michelle Fisher is a freelance writer based in Torrance, Calif.
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