With money tight, Denver and three neighboring districts pooled resources to open a specialty school, the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, based on the principles of Outward Bound, several years ago. Colorado is also committed to charter schools, something the Buffalo Niagara Region is just getting a taste of. That puts New York far behind the charter school movement in other states, just as it's far behind the open enrollment movement. Buffalo tinkered with the idea decades ago, but opening popular schools like City Honors and Hutch Tech to suburban students isn't possible, school officials said. There's not enough room, said Superintendent Marion Canedo.
Buffalo is, however, considering slots for suburban students in new high schools being planned.
But most suburban school districts either shut their borders tight or charge exorbitant tuition to outsiders. It has two such students, one from Buffalo and the other from a nearby suburb. The Williamsville School District, like many others, doesn't allow outsiders at all. If borders were open, some suburban officials said they would expect a flood of Buffalo students crossing borders. And not all the schools in the suburbs are Williamsville and Clarence.