At a Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce meeting last month, four area superintendents talked about education budget cuts, standardized testing, and school choice.
Sylvester Perez, interim superintendent of SAISD, which has seen increasing competition for students by charter schools, challenged them to “bring it on.” Perez said his district offers its own array of choices with magnet campuses and the flexibility to allow about 10,000 of its 54,000 students to attend SAISD schools outside their neighborhood boundaries.
“We don’t select and we don’t sort; we educate all, and that’s the way it should be,” Perez said.
“Schools’ top bosses fearful of more cuts”, Francisco Vara-Orta, San Antonio Express-News, October 30, 2012; also, “Superintendents: The Doors are Open, But Schools Are Struggling”, Iris Dimmick, Rivard Report, October 31, 2012.
For the record, open enrollment public charter schools don’t “select” or “sort,” either.
In an ideal world, San Antonio ISD would be interested in learning from high-performing charter schools. But, all things considered, San Antonio ISD’s “bring it on” attitude is better than, say, obstructionism.
