Pocatello could drop ‘school of choice’ enrollment policy

After graduating from eighth grade, Pocatello students get to choose the high school they attend.

But that policy could come to an end.

An 18-member community committee has recommended dropping the school choice policy, the Idaho State Journal reported this week. That isn’t the final word; Pocatello-Chubbuck School District trustees will make that call.

Trustees are likely to vote early next year, district spokeswoman Shelley Allen told the Journal.

Enrollment varies at Pocatello’s three high schools, partly because of the district’s school of choice policy. More than 1,600 students attend Highland High School, more than 1,200 students attend Century High School, but only about 1,000 students attend Pocatello High School, the Journal reported.

“An unintended consequence of the school of choice policy is that it created an exceptionally high poverty school because kids with means could go somewhere else,” community member and Pocatello High School Principal Lisa Delonas said, according to the Journal. “There are about 585 kids at Century High School that don’t live in their boundaries.”

 

 

Kevin Richert

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 35 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. He can be reached at [email protected]

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