Inter-District School Choice - Transfer Policy and Practice in a Fragmented Metropolitan Region

Oct 15, 2026

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Detrimental side effects of localism drive socioeconomic and racial inequalities across fragmented contiguous school districts, where neighborhood segregation and suburban expansion intensify disparities. Some regions reduce gaps through collaborative cross-district school choice focused on shared resources. In Calderon County, California, districts instead use a noncollaborative, voluntary, colorblind transfer plan with case-by-case administrator review. Interviews indicate that histories of division may worsen stratification. This study highlights fragmentation, community perceptions, and administrative decision-making.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages35

Reading Time1 h 28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Localism, fragmentation, and inequality

Collaborative vs noncollaborative transfer models

Case-by-case colorblind transfer policy

Research questions and administrative power

UC Berkeley Berkeley Review of Education Title Inter-District School Choice: Transfer Policy and Practice in a Fragmented Metropolitan Region Permalink [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r116r9](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r116r9) Journal Berkeley Review of Education, 5(2) ISSN 1947-5578 Author Ganski, Helen Publication Date 2015-01-01 Supplemental Material [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r116r9\#supplemental](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r116r9#supplemental) Peer reviewed [eScholarship.org](eScholarship.org) Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Available online at [http://escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre](http://escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre) Inter-District School Choice: Transfer Policy and Practice in a Fragmented Metropolitan Region Helen Ganski 1 Abstract Detrimental side effects of the politics of localism include socioeconomic and racial inequalities across fragmented contiguous school districts. Inequality follows patterns of neighborhood segregation and suburban expansion. Some regions approach these issues through collaborative models of cross-district school choice that focus shared resources toward reducing disparities. In Calderon County, California2, however, districts have elected to use a noncollaborative, voluntary, and colorblind inter-district transfer plan, in which district administrators evaluate requests on a case-by-case basis. Interviews with these administrators and local citizens reveal a process plagued by a history of racial and socioeconomic division that may be exacerbating stratification. This study demonstrates that administrators, who often interact directly with families, wield extraordinary policy and decision-making power, significantly controlling inter-district mobility in the region. While exploratory in nature, this research reveals meaningful findings on fragmentation, community perceptions, and administrative decision-making within the context of school choice in one Northern California region. Keywords: school choice, open enrollment, inter-district transfers, educational disparity, streetlevel bureaucracy Theories of localism in education evolved out of campaigns to give control of public schools to the local community, which was assumed to best understand the needs of its student population. Although theoretically a sound idea, strict deference to local control has allowed for metropolitan fragmentation, benefitting predominantly White districts atthe cost of low-income, urban, and high-minority school districts (Briffault, 1996; Orfield, 2005) . A“highly fragmented local government system,” according to Goodman (2015), is a system consisting of many local governmental units (p. 3) . The formation of autonomous fragmented districts has allowed for “opportunity hoarding,” or a closed network’s acquisition of resources that are “valuable, renewable, subject to monopoly, supportive of network activities, and enhanced by the network’s modus operandi”(Tilly, 1 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Helen Ganski. Email: [helenganski@gmail.com](helenganski@gmail.com). 2 All place names, including city names, street names, neighborhood names, and school names, have been changed throughout the study to preserve the anonymity of human subjects. Berkeley Review of Education Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 137–170 138 Ganski 1998, p. 10) . Fragmentation has led to opportunity hoarding of educational resources in suburban districts, furthering the achievement gap between suburban districts and their neighboring urban counterparts (Rury & Saatcioglu, 2011; Walters, 2007) . In Calderon County, California, the unfortunate side effects of localism are all too clear. Residential borders drawn by local officials divide the area into fragmented contiguous districts, disparate in both wealth and school achievement. As a solution to such inequalities, some regions have implemented regio

FAQs

What problem does the study associate with localism in education?

The study links localism politics to socioeconomic and racial inequalities across fragmented contiguous school districts, shaped by neighborhood segregation and suburban expansion.

How does the described transfer policy in Calderon County differ from collaborative approaches?

Calderon County uses a noncollaborative, voluntary, colorblind inter-district transfer plan where district administrators evaluate requests case-by-case, rather than coordinating across districts to target shared disparities.

What role do administrators play in inter-district transfers according to the research?

Because administrators often interact directly with families, the study finds they wield extraordinary policy and decision-making power that significantly controls inter-district mobility in the region.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben