New Report: K-12 Without Borders

In the era of school choice, making educational borders more permeable could improve conditions for students, families, and teachers

NEW YORK, NY – While American families mobilize for greater school choice, the nation’s schools are struggling to retain talented teachers. In a new Manhattan Institute report, EdChoice’s Martin F. Lueken and Michael Q. McShane demonstrate that these problems are not unrelated and may have a common solution: making school district boundaries more permeable.

The report explains how rigid district boundaries negatively impact students and teachers, as well as homeowners, and outlines the benefits each of these groups would receive from adequate reform:

• Students: Increased choice of schools, rather than being stuck in lower quality or poorly fitting schools simply because they live in that school’s catchment area.
• Teachers: Greater flexibility in where and for how long they work, without worrying about losing valuable pension wealth by moving from system to system or in and out of the education sector.
• Homeowners: No longer having to worry about school quality as an element of household value.

As America aims for an educational system more responsive to students’ needs—especially after dismal new NAEP scores—policymakers must embrace solutions that remove obstructions to success. Breaking down or loosening the barriers between where students live and where they go to school, where teachers work from year to year, and where homeowner tax dollars flow is key to a fairer and higher-quality school system, one that serves students and those who teach them.

Read the full report here.