As far as busing: SDUSD does do busing in some cases.
– Children may be bused for magnet schools. My sister teaches at Spreckels – which is a magnet. A large percentage of their kids are from the neighborhood or choiced in (no bus) but even with budget cuts a good percentage of Spreckels kids are bused in.
– For students who live in the boundary of a failing school (no child left behind). They can choose to attend another school of their choice, within the district – and the district pays to bus them there.
As to Scripps elementary… I learned an interesting nugget the other night. It is one of 3 schools in SDUSD that chooses NOT to have a GATE program. Obviously, their test scores are good and one can presume they have a decent percentage of GATE identified students. But they’ve chosen not to have a program. I don’t think that should be a deciding factor, but it is something I just learned. (Another is Barnard, and I forgot the name of the third.) Again – I don’t think the GATE thing is a deciding factor in any way. The teachers there may do a fine job of differentiation, etc… and not want the hassles. The budget allotment is NOT a motivating factor for schools to have a GATE program.
