Only 5,200 Slots Open at L.A. Unified

With a shrinking number of seats available in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s open-enrollment program, fewer parents will be able to get their children into schools of their choice in the coming academic year.

A steadily expanding student population in the district has reduced the available number of open-enrollment seats from 22,000 in 1994, when the program started, to 5,200 for the new school term. Applications for fall will be available beginning Monday at all district campuses.

Many parents hoping to transfer children into better-performing schools will likely be disappointed because 85% of the district’s schools have no openings after enrolling neighborhood children from their boundary areas. Lotteries will probably decide who gets many of the available spots.

The state Legislature enacted the open-enrollment program in 1993 as a way to derail the voucher movement and efforts to break up the Los Angeles school district. At the time, enrollment was declining statewide and the program was seen as a way to give parents a choice in where their children are schooled. It became popular in the huge Los Angeles system.

Since then, yearly surges in enrollment in L.A. Unified have taken up many of the seats that might be available through open enrollment at the district’s 791 elementary, middle and senior high schools, said Esther Wong, district assistant superintendent of planning and research.

According to school district figures, for each of the last six years, student population has increased about 10,000, to the current figure of 737,000. The number of open-enrollment seats declined steadily for five years until 2000, when there were 5,000 at 116 schools. Last year, there were 6,000 spots at 120 schools because enrollment did not increase as much as expected.

Wong said the continued general decline in open-enrollment seats probably won’t change until construction of new schools is finished several years from now.

The open-enrollment system will give at least 5,200 people an opportunity to enroll in the school of their choice, Wong said. But because most schools are not accepting applications, many parents are shut out of the process from the start. Officials could not estimate how many applications will be filed this year.

Annette Volk, president of the Parent-Teacher Assn. of Riverside Drive Elementary School in Sherman Oaks, said although most parents are “very happy” with her school, shortages in the open-enrollment system rankle many other parents in the district

“Sure, absolutely, there is discontent,” Volk said. “Parents like to feel that they have those choices, and I feel we are much more limited than we are led to believe.”

Parents want to get their children into curricula offered only on certain campuses, such as the Schools for Advanced Studies program for gifted students, but find no seats available through open enrollment, she said. Separate and earlier applications must be made to the magnet school program.

“The open-enrollment system is better than nothing, but there should be various types of permits available at every school,” Volk said.

Some parents seek to transfer students for reasons other than academics, said Myra Fullerton, principal of Taft High School in Woodland Hills, which has 275 openings. They may work nearby and find it easier to drop off their children or have a relative in the neighborhood who can care for the child after school.

One of the district’s most sought-after schools, El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills, has 175 slots available for fall. In past years applications have often outnumbered openings by 4 to 1, said Principal Ron Bauer. He said he regularly has to tell parents from other schools that there’s no room but no one has ever become irate.

Also high on parents’ lists are Granada Hills High, with 50 openings; North Hollywood High, with 100; and Palms Elementary near Mar Vista, with 10.

Schools receiving more applications than they have seats available will hold a lottery. Officials said the random drawings, held in public, put all applicants on an equal footing. No extra points are given for high academic standing or being first in line.

Last year, North Hollywood High had about 80 openings but fewer applications, so all comers were taken, Assistant Principal Diane Pokarney said.

But some well-regarded schools that have no available spaces for the fall are John Marshall High in the Los Feliz area, Susan Miller Dorsey High in the Crenshaw District, John H. Francis Polytechnic High in Sun Valley and Dixie Canyon Avenue Elementary in Sherman Oaks.

“It’s not that we don’t want to have students come here from other schools, it’s that we don’t have the room,” said Dixie Canyon Principal Bennett Blum, who gets frequent inquiries from hopeful parents. “What I tell them is that our first commitment is to the local community. I also tell them to check back in August, and, if we have room, we’ll take them.”

Marshall High hasn’t had openings in four years. The school once had 200 spaces, with long lines of people seeking them. Dorsey High has no room for outsiders and is so crowded that some students are being bused to other schools, officials said.

Instead of being disappointed that their kids have to attend a neighborhood school, parents should work to improve it, said Karimu McNeal, vice president of the Dorsey High parent group. “Sit in the classrooms. Get to know the teachers, counselors and administrators. Just get in there and get involved. Make sure your child is getting what they need.”

The deadline for open-enrollment applications is June 5 at the school the student wishes to attend. Applications to more than one school are permitted.