The End of the Neighborhood School

There's something romantic about the idea of a neighborhood public school. Not only is it the place where your child can walk or bike on a daily basis, it's where you can meet your neighbors, attend a school play and otherwise build a community.

But that neighborhood school—the school were a child goes as a matter of right—is withering in many American cities. Buffeted by declining enrollment, lagging performance and an education reform movement obsessed with choice, many traditional neighborhood-based public schools are being closed. Students are being shuffled farther away to other facilities or opting for charters (provided they strike it lucky with the lotteries).