Letter from the Suburbs

Another letter in the Post-Dispatch from someone in the suburbs who’s worried about city kids going to suburban schools:

Can county districts, for example, agree to take only a certain number of students from kindergarten through fifth grade, and only until they reach middle school? Can they decide they can’t afford to accept any more students with disabilities? How about accepting only high school students whose grade-point average is more than 3.0 and who have no disciplinary issues? Can they decide to take only students who pass an entrance exam or who are at a certain reading level?

I thought the problem with tuition tax credits and vouchers was that they help students attend private schools, and private schools accept only the best students. But the letter suggests that suburban districts should be able to impose admissions requirements comparable to those set by the most selective private schools like John Burroughs and MICDS.

You don’t hear charter schools and Catholic schools complaining that parental choice will send them disabled or academically struggling students. Many charters and private schools consider educating these students to be a privilege.