A bureaucracy scorned - Iowa's open-enrollment law for public school children

National Review, March 29, 1993 by C. Sheldon Smith

Deb Barnett of Des Moines was excited about taking advantage of Iowa's open-enrollment law, a law that would allow her to send her two children to a neighboring school district. She particularly liked the smaller classes and larger classrooms at an elementary school in suburban Johnston. "I would love for my kids to go to Johnston for that better education, but I can't afford a house there," she said. "That's why I'm using the open-enrollment law."

The law has its limits; only public schools are allowed to compete for tax dollars. Still, it provides additional opportunities for people like Deb Barnett. But last November, Mrs. Barnett's transfer request was denied by a Des Moines school board. She has now joined in an appeal with 85 other Des Moines families who have had their applications turned down by the board.

In 1989 Iowa became just the second state to enact an open-enrollment law. Under the law, state aid equal to more than half of a child's educational costs goes with him to the new school. Liberal legislators, who hoped the bill would force small, rural districts to merge, joined conservatives to pass it.

But the liberals' support did not come cheap. They insisted that a provision be included which would allow districts to deny transfer requests if the move would leave the district "racially unbalanced," i.e., if the percentage of minority students in a district would exceed that of the community's minority population by 15 percentage points or more.

Since the law's enactment, only 236 Des Moines students have emigrated from a student population of over 31,000. But the district was feeling the loss of revenue. It had already lost an estimated $1.2 million over the two years of open enrollment ($3,400 per child per year soon adds up), and school officials projected a loss in the next five years of almost $7.5 million.

So last fall the board decided to do something about it. Until then, the board had computed the effect on racial balance school by school; on that basis, only four of the 122 white students' applications for the next school year would have violated the guideline. But now, without prior notification or public debate, the board directed the school superintendent to change the calculation to a district-wide basis. Schools that were "racially balanced" were thus transformed into schools in "racially imbalanced" districts. The board then voted 6 to 1 to deny the transfer requests of all 122 white students while approving those of all six minority students. Board member Sue Luthens proclaimed, "I'm not going to participate in facilitating white flight."

The action resulted in an uproar. Even the liberal Des Moines Register was critical: "It's unfair for the Des Moines School Board to suddenly change its interpretation of its own policy ... in mid-year." One parent responded to the "white flight" charge: "We don't have any bias or prejudice, but we do have a son who needs a better four-year high-school education than he's going to get at East."

Minorities make up 20 per cent of the student population in Des Moines, but account for only 5 per cent of the open-enrollment requests. According to one study, poor and minority families aren't participating because they cannot afford to transport their children to another district, or because they fear their children wouldn't be accepted elsewhere.

But proponents of forced busing for the sake of integration never worry about acceptance. As for transportation costs, the school district already supplies some students with city bus passes to get to school. Even if the school board refuses to supply bus passes to needy kids leaving the district, the city has a bus voucher program for the poor already in place.

Fred Dorr, president of the neighboring West Des Moines board, notes that "There is no particular pattern to which neighborhood Des Moines students leave when enrolling in other districts.... How does that information square with the accusation of |white flight' being passed around by Des Moines board members?"

In particular, there is no reason to think racism is a significant factor in the transfer requests. No reasonable person would label the Clintons racists for opting out of the D.C. public schools.

"Convenience" is the major reason parents give for requesting transfers. One mother applied for a transfer so she could walk her child to kindergarten, a block from where she works. But the bureaucrats think their convenience matters more: "What it does is force nearly all districts to deal with stacks of paperwork," complains curriculum director Robert Slotterback.

And there are undoubtedly other reasons underlying the claim of convenience. Frances Ahrens, a parent who successfully transferred her child before the iron curtain fell, said, "Last year's sixth-grade middle-school experience in Des Moines was riddled with physical abuse, obscene phone calls, and one gun threat, very poor teaching, busing problems - you name it. . . . Racism is not the problem, but rather inadequate curriculum and teaching, poor student discipline, and low staff and student morale."