From Open Enrollment to . . . Closed?

Is Beverly Hills a Harbinger for Minnesota?

Once upon a time, parents sought out neighborhoods with good schools, low crime, and amenities like parks, nearby shopping, etc.

All those things still count, but with the advent of "open enrollment," which allows families to effectively choose their (public) school district, the "good schools" criterion mattered . . . . just a little less.

That may be about to change, if Beverly Hills, CA is an indicator:

[Out-of-district] students used to be a financial boon for Beverly Hills, bringing millions of dollars in state aid with them. But California’s budget crisis is changing the way schools are financed in many wealthy cities, suddenly turning the out-of-towners into money losers.

--"Beverly Hills Schools to Cut Nonresidents"; The New York Times (12/20/2009)

The issue came to a head last night, when the Beverly Hills school board voted to immediately dismiss 470 out-of-district students, and phase out the remainder ("Beverly Hills Blocks Outside Students"; The New York Times, 1/13/2010). The school board's ruling was nearly unanimous, another omen.

Will this issue "travel" to Minnesota?

We'll see.

The obvious local counterpart to Beverly Hills is . . . Edina.

P.S.: As a Stanford undergrad once upon a time, it seemed that everyone I met from Beverly Hills had been class president.

Actually, I wasn't that far off: at least back then, I discovered, Beverly Hills High School elected new class presidents monthly (you've got to assume that the admissions departments at elite schools caught on to this pretty quickly).