AISD Enrollment Now Available To Everyone In Austin Metro

[scm53]

AISD is inviting a storm of monumental proportion if they open all schools to OOD students. Just wait for the parent whose kid gets denied admission to LASA, Kealing, name your magnet/special program school, once they find out an OOD kid DID get in. They will make their board member's life living hell, and most AISD taxpayers/voters will agree. And the administration is smart and experienced enough to realize that before it ever will be proposed.

The idea that any parents, having moved to P'ville or wherever, are now going to send their kids back to the empty desks at Reagan, Lanier, LBJ, Eastside, or Travis - especially when they have to provide transportation - is a joke. Unfortunately, the race obsessed don't get the joke. It is one thing to have a premium product with space as Eanes appears to have. AISD doesn't have that, and ergo, there will be no demand until they improve the product where they have capacity.

[centralaustinite]

Oh yes. I do not disagree with you at all. Right now parents and kids in AISD are waiting hear who got into LASA, Fine Arts, Ann Richards etc. It is kind of brutal. Hundreds of AISD kids (and kids who reside in AISD) get turned down. Believe me, the administrators of these programs are already worried about how to manage this.

But there is demand from out of district for these programs. LASA and McCallum get dozens of calls and emails from out of district parents wanting to apply every year.

But is the demand enough to help out AISD financially without royally annoying AISD parents and taxpayers? I guess we will find out.

Edited to add; what I am hearing is that it is the AISD administration who is pushing this while the staff in the trenches -- who are right in the thick of the selection process now -- are the ones recommending caution.

[austinnative69]

I agree with centralaustinite -- as a father of a children waiting to hear from Kealing Magnet and McCallum Fine Arts -- the idea that hundreds more (non-AISD taxpaying residents) will be vying for EXTREMELY limited spots is soul-crushing.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by riaelise

If AISD's improving or best schools aren't open to transfers, why in the world would a child from Pflugerville leave a decent to good school track (of course, some Pf schools are better than others) to go to underperforming Austin schools? All of the better schools aren't accepting transfers, so why bother commuting to a school that isn't better than your zoned ISD school?

No one would do this. Your point is 100% on target.

[RonnieinDallas]

Originally Posted by riaelise

If AISD's improving or best schools aren't open to transfers, why in the world would a child from Pflugerville leave a decent to good school track (of course, some Pf schools are better than others) to go to underperforming Austin schools? All of the better schools aren't accepting transfers, so why bother commuting to a school that isn't better than your zoned ISD school?

I'm sure some students might consider it to have a better chance at being in the top 8-10% of their class, therefore insuring automatic admission to the public college of their choice. Only reason I can think of.

[gpurcell]

They may be thinking that the in-district kids who aren't accepted will just have to suck it up, I guess, and they can get their overall enrollment numbers up.

They're playing with fire with this. Glad my kid is years away from dealing with Kealing.

[eirenecat]

I think there are areas of Austin where this might work beautifully, depending on what AISD schools are open for transfers. There are reasonably central-ish North Austin neighborhoods which go to surprisingly crappy Pflugerville or AISD schools and which are not tenable for young families, but which might become so under the new transfer policy. I used to live in Quail Creek, which was great location-wise, but the elementary schools there were unattendable. If my daughter could have gone anywhere other than Cook Elementary, we might have considered a larger house in the same neighborhood when it was time to move.

Most of Wells Branch and Scofield Ridge, for example, go to pretty bad Pflugerville schools. However, those neighborhoods are still decent commute-wise for tech workers who have North-ish jobs. We loved the houses in Scofield, but couldn't do the Pflugerville school track our daughters would have had to attend. Scofield is still near enough to Summit, Davis, and other good AISD elementaries. If they're accepting transfers, I can see this being a really appealing option for parents.

[shmatbert]

And then there's this about AISD magnet programs:
Poor, minority students missing out on Austin

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by shmatbert

And then there's this about AISD magnet programs:
Poor, minority students missing out on Austin

To me, this is the response of the AISD program administrators and parents to the AISD administration who are proposing opening the district up to out-of-district transfers. I think this is all inside baseball.

The situation that the Statesman describes has been going on foir decades and decades. The biggest obstacle to getting into Kealing or LASA is advanced math skills. If you aren't prepared for pre-algebra by 6th grade and geometry (at least) by 9th grade, you are out of luck. Succeeding at McCallum Fine Arts takes much more art, drama, voice, band, orchestra, etc instruction than provided by the elementary schools. Families invest considerable resources in those kids for years before the Fine Arts auditions.

If anything, this will fuel those who want a second Fine Arts HS and a second advanced academic magnet in AISD.

[llkltk]

Glad to be moving into DSISD. Adios AISD!