At a September 21, 2001 “Fairness Hearing,” federal district court judge William H. Orrick, Jr. heard arguments opposing the latest proposed modifications to the city’s 20 year-old Consent Decree. The message conveyed by parents was clear: they refuse to return to the days in San Francisco Unified School District (“SFUSD” or the “district”) when school reform meant revamping student assignment policies, and multi-million dollar failed busing campaigns, all in the misguided hope that some new distribution of students — based on racial and socioeconomic background — would improve student achievement.

Accountability for district spending, student performance, and parental choice are the major issues of concern under the Consent Decree. However, the proposed student assignment plan recently approved by Judge Orrick remains at the center of controversy. Strongly opposed by many parents and community leaders, the plan locates the power to assign students to district schools ultimately in the hands of a state-of-the-art SFUSD “Diversity Index” statistical software program, instead of where it belongs — in the hands of parents.

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