During Betsy DeVos’ bitter confirmation hearing for education secretary, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet pointed to Denver as a potential national model of a big city school district that’s found an innovative, balanced approach to school choice.
School choice is discussed as an approach to offer high performing schools to all children, not just children living in the right zip code. This article from NPR questions how access will work for those without transportation to the high performing schools.
“There’s no reason why a person that buys a half-million-dollar house in a particular neighborhood should have greater access to a quality school than somebody that is renting space in a large apartment,” he says.
Otherwise, he points out, Denver’s popular choice experiment risks widening the chasm between rich and poor.
Or even a small apartment… or hole in the wall run down hovel…the promise is to give all kids access to quality education, and that has proved so very hard to do. So we should try harder, and find a way, or ways and keep our minds open to possible solutions wherever they might be found.