Adjusted to local needs, something like it belongs in every district. Only about 50 of the state's 198 districts operated summer schools last year, and many were severely limited. Other programs served only children of migrant workers or taught English to new immigrants. In Portland, summer schools shut down during the 1990s owing to property-tax limitations. It's a small start.
Some children learn at a sprinters' pace.
Others require lots of coaching to advance even at a walk. Unless lawmakers pay to make summer schools available everywhere, high expectations for many students are unrealistic and job-threatening accountability for teachers and administrators is unfair.