We contacted 15 high-performing @laschools.bsky.social with open seats to ask about enrolling a 1st and 4th grader.

Here's what happened. ⤵️

NEW:

For Black and Hispanic students in @laschools.bsky.social, the odds of attending a school with 70% reading proficiency are almost zero.

Why?

20 years after Katrina, New Orleans students have made incredible gains.

There are many reasons why.

One of them?

Getting rid of school zones.

We know that @laschools.bsky.social best elementary schools have thousands of open seats.

So what’s keeping middle- and low-income students out of them? ⤵️

For years, California’s state and local politics have stalled affordable housing projects in wealthy neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, lower-income students wanting a better education are told to wait for homes that may never come. @frombenc.bsky.social

In blue and red states alike, parents can face serious prison time for using a different address to access a better school district.

In Texas, the penalty is up to 10 years. In California, up to 7.

But why are parents put in this position to begin with? ⤵️

This redistricting fight in Maryland is a cautionary tale.

When access to public schools is decided by zip code, families are pitted against one another–and students lose.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The Austin Independent School District is on the verge of approving a plan to close 13 schools.

And once again, district leaders are relying on the same old playbook to reassign kids: new boundary lines that unfairly decide who gets to enroll in the best public schools.

California’s school funding system was supposed to level the playing field.

It hasn’t.

This new report from @bellwetherorg.bsky.social and @edpolicyinca.org shows how wealth and address still decide which students get opportunities. ⬇️ edpolicyinca.org/publications...

🚨 NEW: The Penn-Trafford School District wrongly kicked out two kids it suspected of lying about their address.

They were allowed to return.

But the case exposes a hard truth about our address-based system: public schools aren’t truly open to all.

@newamerica.org is right: district boundaries unfairly segregate students. newamerica.org/education-po...

But would redrawing those lines make our public schools less segregated?

No. Here’s why:

This should alarm Democrats.

Parents, especially independents, are increasingly rejecting a strict system that limits educational opportunity.

They want real options for their children.

In the years after Katrina, Carver High School became an academic success story under new outside leadership. But that success came at a great cost.

Strict reforms and discipline policies sparked protests and student walkouts.

What turned things around?

Hope Hill kids are stuck in a low-performing school, even though a top school is less than 10 minutes away.

Why?

This is what modern-day educational redlining looks like.

Low-income students are excluded and punished simply for where they live.

🚨 NEW: Public schools across the country are facing an enrollment crisis.

But painful closures aren’t the answer.

Let's pull families back in by giving them equal access to the best public schools.

Our president Tim DeRoche in @thehill.com: thehill.com/opinion/educ...

Every year, thousands of kids across our country are unfairly--or even illegally--denied access to public schools that meet their needs.

That has to change. Public schools should fulfill their promise of being available to all.

Join us in this fight: availabletoall.org