L.A. Board Moves to Relax Student Transfer Policies

The Los Angeles Board of Education took a step Monday toward granting parents greater freedom in choosing schools for their children by agreeing for the first time to allow student transfers to district schools closer to where parents work.

The new policies, which are expected to receive final approval next week, also would expand the number of students eligible for transfers to schools closer to before- and after-school child-care facilities. The existing child-care transfer program, which applies to elementary schools, would be expanded to include students through the ninth grade.

Debate has been growing in school districts nationwide over whether to allow parents greater choice in selecting schools. President Bush and many educators and parents endorse “open enrollment” as a means of forcing schools to improve academically. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, some parents have been accused of shopping for schools that have better teachers and historically higher test scores.

Sara A. Coughlin, a district associate superintendent, acknowledged that the board’s action Monday signals a step toward achieving open enrollment, in which parents are free to choose any district school for their children.

District officials said they cannot predict how many more transfer permits would be allowed over the 14,000 currently issued by the district. Most of the current transfers are for child-care reasons, and the district could be deluged with job-related transfers because so many children have working parents. The transfer still would have to meet district racial integration guidelines that set limits on the percentage of white and ethnic minority students at some schools.

The permits would only be issued to parents who work full time, can show proof of employment and who have a note from their employer that gives permission for the parent to tend to the child in case of an emergency.

“Now if you work in one part of town, you can have your child at a school nearby,” Coughlin said. “We believe it’s a fair plan.”

School board President Roberta Weintraub called the new transfer guidelines “fair and consistent.”

But it is unclear whether the new transfer policies would aggravate school shopping by tempting parents to lie about where they work.

The 600,000-student district is plagued by overcrowded classrooms. Most open spaces are in schools in West Los Angeles and the West San Fernando Valley, officials said.

State law allows transfers to schools nearer the workplace but leaves it up to individual districts to decide whether the transfers should be allowed. Previously, the Los Angeles school board allowed only workplace-related transfers to schools in other districts.

Monday’s agreement also would relax integration guidelines for high school transfer permits to increase from four to 18 the number of schools that can accept regular transfer students, officials said. That change would not affect the district’s voluntary integration or magnet school programs, which have their own guidelines for acceptance districtwide, officials said.

The proposed transfer changes stemmed from a fight between the district and a group of white parents who had their child-care transfer permits revoked last summer because district officials feared the transfers were contributing to racial segregation. The district withdrew 300 child-care permits for children attending 10 mostly white schools in the San Fernando Valley, Westside and Harbor area.

The parents of those children filed a lawsuit against the district and won a court decision that delayed district action until next fall. Attorneys for the parents had argued that not allowing the transfers would create hardships for working parents whose children must attend schools outside their neighborhood that are near available child care.

Part of the new plan would guarantee that those 300 children will retain their child-care permits until they graduate from elementary school. It also would give transfer priority to younger brothers and sisters of those children.

“We ran into a sensitive area and showed that we can work out a resolution,” said West Valley board representative Julie Korenstein.

Korenstein, who is in a June 6 runoff election against junior high school Principal Gerald E. Horowitz, had angered a large group of local parents over the issue. Dauna Packer, a founder of the group challenging the district’s child-care revocations in court, lost to Korenstein in the April 11 primary.

“I’d love to say that it’s all over, but we’re going to wait until the final vote to see,” Packer said. “Then our group will meet and decide if the proposal is acceptable and whether we will pursue the lawsuit.”

District officials said they found that nearly all parents who sought child-care transfer permits had legitimate cause.

Officials said the new plan also would allow the district to keep better count of the number of transfer permits issued. In the past, some principals had granted permission informally for parents to transfer their children without district approval, officials said.

The new district transfer plan would require one application for all types of transfers. Those applications would be available at schools after May 15, officials said.