Education Lottery

I was having lunch with a colleague recently and we were catching up on each other's personal lives when he told me that he was commuting between here and Bend, Oregon because that is where his wife and daughter now live so she can attend a good school. He then proceeded to explain that due to the way Bozeman handles enrollment, they had ended up with their 6th choice for a school for their daughter. I listened intently about this entire situation as I have pretty passionate views regarding our entire education system in the United States today. Needless to say, I was amazed that Bozeman had progressed or rather regressed to this system of lottery for choice of schools. In case you don't understand the lottery concept, instead of traditional districting where you attend the school according where you live according to geographical boundary lines, Bozeman public schools, after several other systems have gone to a lottery where each parent submits six choices of schools for his/her student and then they will end up where the chips fall. There are exceptions for several items: if you live within 1 mile of the school; if you have a sibling attending the school of choice already and special needs (something like this.) I may not have my facts completely accurate here regarding the exceptions, but you understand the concept.

I can't believe that a town that claims to be as progressive as Bozeman would run their educational system in a lottery. As you can see, money talks and it speaks pretty loudly in this area. It is really sad that children are being carted around for miles and miles because no one seems to understand the concept of attending schools built near their homes. As it was explained to me, there are schools that are much better than others in regards to standardized test scores and teacher reputation (obviously). Then would it not make sense to concentrate on making the sub-standard schools better? And where do the parents take responsibility for their children's education- not by pushing it on the teachers only, but by being and active parent in the process?

My brother and sister-in-law told me that my nephew's class had a homework assignment that involved a book reading that the parents needed to sign off each night for a month. Only TWO parents out of 28 bothered to participate and sign their children's homework for the teacher. If parents are so concerned, maybe they should be involved and stop manipulating the education system for their convenience and start being a part of the solution, not creating more problems.

And regarding my colleague, before you misread my post, I don't begrudge him for taking his family to where he feels he can get a better education for his child. He does not want to be a part of what I feel is an education machine so he removed them from the situation. This was his way of dealing with this problem. I just used what happened to him as a springboard for discussion of this topic. Bozeman's education system is in dire need of some intervention for everyone's sake, but especially the student's because ultimately, they pay the price.