Organizing school districts by geography, and then enforcing that children attend the school nearest them, is a bureaucratic convenience that a) makes it easy t

Organizing school districts by geography, and then enforcing that children attend the school nearest them, is a bureaucratic convenience that a) makes it easy to centrally plan resources by forecasting student population, b) eliminates competition for the families' business. In New Orleans they simply started allowing students to attend any school in the city, and the schools' budgets were adjusted for the enrolled population they accepted. The outcomes jumped substantially (there were other reforms as well).