December 17, 2015 - Senate Minority Leader Emeritus Bob Huff (R-San Dimas) is calling on the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), Tom Torlakson, to comply with California’s Open Enrollment Act law and create and
publish a list of California’s 1,000 low-performing schools for the 2016-17 school year. If a list is not created or placed on the California Department of Education website by January 1, 2016, students will be prevented from transferring from one school to another for academic reasons, making California’s largest school choice program inoperative.“Posting information required by law is vital to the success of students and families who do not want to be trapped by zip codes,” said Senator Huff. “Our own Legislative Counsel has issued an opinion that the State Superintendent faces a legal obligation to post this list of underperforming schools. Failure to provide this information traps good students in bad schools with no option to transfer elsewhere.”
The purpose of the Open Enrollment Act is to improve pupil achievement and enhance parental choice in education by providing additional options to students to enroll in public schools throughout the state without regard to where the student lives. The Open Enrollment Act provides students enrolled in one of the 1,000 Open Enrollment schools the option to enroll in a school within the same district or any other district provided the school to which they are applying has a higher Academic Performance Index score than the student’s school of residence.
Bill Lucia, President of EdVoice, said, “It’s most egregious that minority and poor students are unable to leave for better neighborhoods and schools like their affluent classmates. This is a blatant violation of the law. Do parents have to go to court again and make sure Superintendent Torlakson complies with the plain English of the law as confirmed by the Legislature’s own Chief legal counsel? This is like the Grinch that stole Christmas for students trapped in zip codes with failing schools through no fault of their own. If not the Grinch, then perhaps the unfeeling Pharaoh who just keeps saying, ‘no I won’t let you go.’”
Senator Huff recently wrote a letter to Superintendent Torlakson that stated: “I am asking you to post the list immediately as families and students only have until January 1, 2016 to apply for transfer. Our job as elected officials is to make sure that California’s students are provided the tools necessary to succeed. This program is one of the tools we can provide to our students.”
Source: Senate Minority Leader Emeritus Bob Huff
