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In this issue:
 • Black Market School Choice

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Black Market School Choice
It has been an interesting couple of days for those of us interested in education here in the Land of Enchantment. Yesterday (Monday, August 1st — click here for story), we learned that Albuquerque parents are so desperate to get their kids into “what they deem to be the best schools” that they are willing to lie about their address. The result, of course, is that “good schools” are becoming overcrowded. The problem has become so acute that some schools are now asking for four (4) proofs of address!

Apparently parents care so much about their child’s education that they will take whatever steps necessary to do right by their kid — “black market” school choice if you will. APS Student Success Administrator (I didn’t know we had one of these) Susan Stanojevic offers more insight than she probably intended when she said “We are not trying to keep kids out of school…we are trying to keep them in the correct boundaries.” Let that one sink in a bit. Apparently where children are educated is more important than the fact that they are educated.

Then today (Tuesday, August 2nd — click here for story), we are told that 81 of 128 APS schools and 428 of the state’s 787 public schools failed to meet the basic No Child Left Behind requirements last school year. If these numbers weren’t alarming enough, both Superintendent Everitt and Secretary of Education Garcia did little to comfort parents and taxpayers with their comments on the results. Both stated that they “expected” more schools not to meet the requirements this year because (here’s the real kicker) “more students took the test.” Am I correct in hearing them say “The more of our kids you test, the worse we are going to look?”

And we wonder why parents have become liars with regard to their address? Perhaps it is time to put a child’s education above “correct boundaries” and let parents choose where their children are to be educated.
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