Major California school district rips up lottery system as families flee public schools
San Francisco families will now be guaranteed a spot at neighborhood public elementary schools following a historic vote to scrap its unpredictable, lottery-based system that drove parents crazy — even driving some away from the district entirely.The San Francisco Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday to begin the process of reinstating neighborhood-based admissions by Fall 2028, scrapping a system that sometimes forced kids into far-flung schools in the name of equity.“Families should not have to roll the dice and try their luck in our system,” Superintendent Maria Su said in support of the change.“Families should not have to leave where they live to secure their child’s future.
The school down the street should be a good option and a certain one.”The current lottery system, which assigns students to elementary schools in a lottery that is based on ranked preferences, has been in place since 2011.But the system has been frequently blasted as chaotic, stressful and not particularly fair — forcing some children to undergo brutal commutes.It’s been blamed as one factor driving steep enrollment losses at SFUSD, which has declined from more than 60,000 students to fewer than 50,000 in the last school year, according to district data.
“I don’t know what more to say around the time we have been given to improve ourselves with the current system, and it’s not happening,” said Board of Education President Phil Kim, citing reports that the lottery system failed to reduce racial segregation in schools.Board members agreed that that system has to go.
Under the lottery, some schools can see hundreds of applications while others get little interest.Parents try to get their children into schools with higher test scores or better funding, which has only exacerbated disparities between schools, critics have argued.
“Our current system creates that” disparity, board member Matt Alexander said.However, Su acknowledged that there are “lots of fears an...