Mayor Vincent Gray today accepted a final recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Student Assignment for revised school boundaries and feeder patterns.

“I am accepting the Advisory Committee’s recommendations to continue the tremendous progress we have made in recent years reforming public education in the District,” Gray said in a letter to the committee. “While change like this is never easy, it is in the best interest of the District – and especially our children – to move forward with the Committee’s recommended policies and boundaries.”

The new boundaries will take effect during the 2015-16 school year, while new feeder policies will be phased-in. (This is, of course, assuming the next mayor of D.C. will keep the policies in place.)

In its recommendation [PDF], the Advisory Committee explains that changes were made to address school closures, travel burdens on families, students with the right to attend multiple schools.

“Many schools do not have a clearly defined community for which they are responsible, and many families do not have obvious pathways to their schools of right,” the recommendation states. “In some cases, due to the consolidation of attendance zones, families are assigned to schools that are not within easy walking distance of their homes. In addition, there are school boundaries with far more students than there is capacity, as well as boundaries with more capacity than there are assigned students.”

Students will now only have the matter of right to one elementary, middle and high school to prevent over- and under-enrollment. Here are some of the changes highlighted by the committee in a release:

Guaranteed PK seats for in-boundary families at Title 1 schools

A preference in the lottery for students categorized as “at-risk”; a policy that will also
apply to public charter schools if the Council approves such a measure

More equitable placement of specialized and selective programs and schools

The opportunity to attend new DCPS middle schools, following the planned investment
in middle school programs and facilities in Wards 2, 4 and 7; and

A preference in the lottery for students who live over a half-mile in walking distance
from their zoned DCPS school to a DCPS school that is within half a mile, affirming the
importance of supporting and encouraging walking to DCPS elementary schools.

While the recommendations will make the process easier for many parents, families who are losing desirable matter-of-right schools, like Woodrow Wilson High School, are likely to be unhappy with the change.