Letters to the Editor

An update on the school choice process

All across our city this month, parents are choosing the schools where they would like to send their children to kindergarten. The Boston Public Schools are better than ever — but our school assignment process is 25 years old.

Under the current system, we ask prospective families to visit as many as 30 schools — some of which may be across the street, others miles from home — and then wait and hope they’ll get what they wanted. Our school choice process can be confusing, unpredictable and unnecessarily complicated.

We can do better. Rather than building strong communities, today’s system begins by splitting up communities, sending students from one street to different schools across the city — even when families would rather have their children attend school close to home. This is why one year ago, I announced that we would spend this year on a comprehensive process to reform the current three-zone student assignment system, which puts complexity before community and ensures quantity of choices rather than quality of schools.

Today, I’m proud to report that [we] are on the home stretch. We are closer than ever to finding a new way forward — one that makes sense for families, lifts up our communities and gives every Boston student, regardless of where they live, a more equitable opportunity to attend a quality school closer to home.

As we work to improve the student assignment system, we also continue to improve each of the schools across our city, because we know that changing the student assignment system, alone, will not improve school quality. Next week, I’ll file statewide legislation that, if adopted, would extend the District’s turn-around powers and support grants to the Level 3 schools that need them most; eliminate the cap on In-District charter schools; and extend the school day for additional instruction and professional development. This legislation will help to bring quality up to the highest levels for all our students, and combined with a new student assignment system, will offer families better school choices by expanding the tools we’ve already proven are successful.

We’re glad that so many voices agree that it’s time for a change and I hope you will stay involved by visiting bostonschoolchoice.org. There, you will see that we are closer than ever to successfully reforming our school choice system. Of course there will be a push to maintain the status quo. But if anything is worth fighting for, it’s an equitable school system that delivers what residents have asked us to deliver: stronger communities through quality schools, close to home.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino
City of Boston