EVEN LIMITED CHOICE UNDER ATTACK IN CALIFORNIA

The San Juan Unified School District is getting ready for open enrollment season, a three-day period in January when parents sign up to place their children in schools outside their own attendance boundaries. The annual ritual, at least 15 years old, is grounded in the notion that parents should have a choice about where their children attend school. About 4,500 San Juan students - roughly 10 percent of the district enrollment - take advantage of the policy every year. The number is close to 5,000 (just under 11 percent of enrollment) in Sacramento City Unified.

Families who opt for open enrollment often scope out campuses as if they're prepping for college admissions season. Some middle schools in the San Juan district offered tours last week to fifth-and sixth-graders. High schools, too, sell their campuses. Rio Americano High in Sacramento is showing off its grounds to prospective freshmen today by appointment. McClatchy High in the Sacramento city school district will have two open-house days next week for its selective Humanities & International Studies Program.

But critics in San Juan say the policy has some less-than-desirable effects. They say it hurts people who can't afford to provide transportation to the new school - a district requirement. And not everyone can spend hours a week volunteering, as some of the more sought-after schools ask parents to do. As a result, some say, neighborhood schools get weaker as they lose involved families to high-powered schools elsewhere. Kids at the 10 district schools that accept students only through open enrollment are more likely to be well-off, white and fluent in English than are students at other district schools. "It's a have/have-not situation," said Sydney Walker, a parent who chairs a district committee that recommends school closures.

Superintendent Steven Enoch said he will address the open enrollment policy when he presents a district redesign plan to the school board next week. In an interview, he wouldn't specify his ideas, saying he wanted the board to hear them first. "We have two all-American values that potentially clash a little," he said. "One is promoting neighborhood schools, and another American value is choice. ... They can indeed bump up against each other a bit. I want good neighborhood schools - that's fundamental to our system - but at the same time I certainly understand and honor parental choice."

Parents who visited Arcade last week said they hoped Enoch wouldn't try anything too drastic. "I would really hate to see the district give up open enrollment," said Sue Akiyama, as her son Max waited for a tour to start in the school lobby. "I just think it gives parents some control over education." Akiyama and other parents said their neighborhood schools were perfectly good options - but most were gunning for Arden, a high-scoring school in Sacramento, and Arcade.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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