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Board adopts modest changes to student-assignment method after heated debate over race and poverty factors
Summary
The board approved modifications to the student-assignment diversity index for the 2008 enrollment cycle—removing 'mother’s education background', adding outreach and verification steps, adding a priority for site-based staff and proposing an 'extreme poverty' indicator (public housing/CalWORKs); a separate amendment to add ethnicity as an index factor failed after extended debate.
After extended discussion and public comment, the San Francisco Board of Education on Sept. 12 adopted a set of modest modifications to the district’s student-assignment method for the 2008 school year.
The board directed staff to eliminate “mother’s education background” from the diversity index lottery and to increase efforts to verify home addresses to reduce fraud; it also directed expanded outreach and recruitment particularly in under-enrolled communities. In addition, the board approved a newly proposed priority in the appeals process for permanent site-based staff who live in San Francisco and have worked full time at the site for at least three years. Staff proposed capturing an 'extreme poverty' indicator using a household’s public-housing status (and supplementing with CalWORKS/free/reduced lunch indicators) to provide additional weight in the index for very high-need families.
The meeting also featured a heated debate over whether ethnicity should be reintroduced as a factor in the diversity index for schools that are more than 50 percent from a single ethnic group. Commissioner Kelly offered an amendment to add ethnicity as a factor for such segregated schools; commissioners and district legal counsel raised concerns about legal implications and community process, and the amendment failed on a roll-call vote.
Staff said they have only small, informal survey data on how many staff would use a priority for site-based employees and pledged to add a checkbox to application forms to collect accurate numbers in the next round. The board asked staff to return with implementation details and, where legal issues may arise, to consult counsel; the resolution passed with six ayes.
Several commissioners underscored the broader context: district monitoring reports show increasing racial isolation over recent years, and many board members said further, more substantive work on student assignment will be necessary to address resegregation trends.
The adopted changes take effect for the 2008 student-assignment cycle; staff will begin updating application materials and planning implementation steps, and will report back to the board with analysis and any recommended refinements.
