News

Senate Embraces Huff’s Positive Education Proposal
Change to School Choice Law Earns Unanimous Floor Support

Legislation introduced by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) will now move to the Assembly after receiving unanimous support during a Senate Floor vote. SB 172 seeks to make a technical change to the Open Enrollment Act by changing the name of “low-achieving” schools to a less judgmental and more benign title of “open enrollment” schools.

Senator Huff agreed to author the cleanup measure after hearing a chief and shared concern by many school districts, which have been publicly labeled as “low-achieving,” despite relatively higher test scores. The Huff measure would replace the “low-achieving” label with the more benign and less inflammatory label of “open enrollment.”

“My legislation would find another name for low-achieving schools that is more socially acceptable,” said the Senate Republican Leader during his Senate Floor presentation. “The original legislation was never designed to create a stigma for these low-performing schools, but unfortunately that’s what it has become.”

California’s Open Enrollment Act requires the California Department of Education to create a list of 1,000 schools that are required to offer parents the option to transfer their child to any other school of their choice. Schools on the list of 1,000 are currently deemed “low-achieving” according to a specific formula prescribed by law. The current designation creates a problem.

“This isn’t a substantive change in law, it’s how you label it,” explained Senator Huff. “Open Enrollment was never meant to be a punitive program. School choice for parents and kids, not subjective labels, is the underlying purpose of the Open Enrollment Act.”

SB 172 passed off the Senate Floor by a vote of 35-0.

Senator Huff serves as the Senate Republican Leader and represents the 29th Senate District covering portions of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties. Follow Senator Huff on Twitter at @bobhuff99.