What many don't realize is that there are many things they can do under current law. School districts are allowed to implement a variety of voluntary choice plans, often across school district boundaries. Local school boards have the right to contract with others for educational services. School districts may petition the Commissioner of Education for waivers from most state regulations, and many do. A range of other exemptions are also available to individual campuses or even entire districts that meet basic achievement requirements.
Local problems deserve local solutions.
In Garland, for example, students and parents may select any school in the district, subject only to the availability of space and federal court decisions regarding ethnic balance. In northwest Texas, Coleman County's four public school districts have developed an informal open-enrollment policy that helps students and parents choose campuses across district lines. In both Sherman and Wylie, school officials are negotiating with private vendors to manage one campus in each district as a pilot project. Floydada Alternative High School, up in the High Plains, serves more than 100 at-risk students from seven area school districts. These and countless other programs are pushing back the limits to local choice in Texas' public schools.