SRC meeting on changing student enrollment and placement
Monday, Jan. 13, 2013
6 p.m. (arrive earlier for seats)
440 N. Broad Street, 2nd flr. auditorium
No registration necessary.
This Monday, the School Reform Commission meeting will weigh the “pros and cons” of changing the way students enroll and are placed in District schools, as well as potentially charter and Catholic schools. Currently students are guaranteed a neighborhood public schools and may choose from up to five District schools and an unlimited number of charter and parochial schools. Under a proposed new system, students would have to list all their choices among District, charter and parochial schools and would be assigned one choice only. Among the questions up for debate:
- Should the District control its own student placement process or turn it over to a private entity paid a per-pupil fee for each student placed?
- Should students be assigned to one school only among all District, charter and Catholic schools?
- Should the District be in the business of enrolling students into Catholic and charter schools?
- Should the District coordinate vouchers for students to attend religious or non-public schools charging tuition?
- Should parents and students be required to participate in this system while schools have the ability to opt out?
- Should students’ private information be distributed to non-public entities?
- Could student data be released or sold to other businesses (this is happening in NY state where parents are challenging it)?
For more than a year, District and city officials have been holding private conversations with charter and Catholic school operators to potentially pilot a radical “universal enrollment” model. Philadelphia School Partnership, a lead supporter of this model, held a briefing before City Council in September announcing that they themselves would run the system as a private entity, potentially gaining access to all student data and eventually charging a per pupil fee from District, charter, and Catholic school networks. Read more here:
Philadelphia School Partnership presentation on Universal Enrollment before City Council (powerpoint)
