Lee County School Choice Program - Pro or Con?

The debate may be just starting. Commissioners, school administrators and parents are all re-evaluating the current school choice program and it would not be surprising to see changes down the road.

In 2004, the court-ordered mandate for busing children to school for achieving segregation expired  Since 1998, Lee County utilized a parental selection of school choice allowing them to satisfy the mandate and eliminated the need for re-drawing boundary lines each time a new school was built. Instead parents selected a school of choice and when a slot was available the child was able to attend that school. But, there are many issues with school choice that may affect whether or not the Lee School District continues the program.

First and foremost, if a parent does not select a school greater than two (2) miles away from their home, then the child must walk or the parent must drive the child to school. That may mean that a highly desirable school in your area may not be practical for your child. And, although the district is broken into three main Zones - East, West, and South - within those areas are sub-zones. Each major zone offers specialty schools, including fine and performing arts, International Baccalaureate (high school), and a comprehensive high school, but your choice is limited to the Zone's sub-zone that is closest to your home in order to reduce transportation costs.

Many families moving to the area are unaware of school choice and the majority of parents submit their requests in the first submission period which is end of January through mid-March for the next school year. If you have not registered your child during this time period and indicated your school of choice, then your child attends the nearest school where there is an opening. This may mean that two, or more, children in the same family may attend two, or more, schools. Or, that your child must walk to school. In today's age, many parents find it unacceptable for their child to have to walk to their neighborhood school.

Priority is given in the following manner:

• siblings wanting to attend the same school;
• students whose first choice is a school within their sub-zone;
• full time special education needs children.

More importantly, your child must be registered first in order to receive any priority at all. That means you can't wait until you move to Southwest Florida to register your child, if you want access to the best schools in your neighborhood.

In many areas of Lee County, it is common to hear a potential buyer ask for a listing of homes in the best school district, or near the better schools. For potential Lee County buyers, truly all you can do is explain that there is a website available where they may see how the schools are ranked and then select from the available homes in that Zone.

• Lee County Schools

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