School districts like Buffalo have seen military organizations (ex. JROTC) takeover operation of local schools. These schools focus on developing effective and responsible leaders through a combination of military training and a student’s traditional educational coursework.

Schools like the SEED School in Washington DC offer students the opportunity to live, eat and learn at a 24-hour public boarding school. The school is tuition free for students that are living in poverty. The ultimate goal is to allow students to live and learn in a safe environment away from the distraction that might arise at home or in their community.

Schools like those in the Holt Public School District (Holt, MI) have switched to a year-round academic calendar to help eliminate “summer learning loss”. These schools use a system called the “45-15 Rule”, which gives students a three week break after every nine weeks of learning. The goal is to shorten the amount of time that children are away from school for summer break and in turn, minimize the loss of knowledge that correlates with that time away from the classroom.

Within the Washington DC school district, they’ve seen the growth of charter schools to about 50% of all available school seats. Washington DC leaders point to this competition between public and charter schools as a key factor in the increase in graduation rates over the past 15 years.

The Boston Public School System has created a group of schools within their district known as Pilot Schools. These schools are allowed to run with significantly less oversight and more flexibility (including no teacher’s union contract and minimal financial auditing). The goal is to identify the best practices within the districts without the restrictions that some say stifle reform efforts in education.

This year, the University of Rochester took over control of East High under a law known as the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO). This allows the local university to take the primary decision making authority from the district’s superintendent and run the individual school with more flexibility. This also brings the focus on a college education to the forefront for these inner-city students.

The Governor’s Educational Investment Tax Credit would allow for the creation of scholarships from private donors to help students living in poverty attend the school of their choice. Under this system, a tax credit is given to those willing to donate to this educational scholarship fund. These funds would then be used by parents to send their child to whichever public, private or religious school that they feel will best suit their needs.

Downstate in New York City, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg allowed local charter schools to use the space available within the NYC public school system. In addition to successfully utilizing all tax-payer funded facilities, it eliminates the burden of finding suitable space for charter schools, which many have stated is the greatest hindrance for charter school growth.

Many major urban districts have decided to replace their elected board of education and give the decision making power to the mayor (ex. New York City). Under this model, the accountability of the school district falls on the shoulders of the person elected to lead the city and gives them the power/authority to enact changes.

According to research conducted by the Center for American Progress, a school district can best function both economically and instructionally with a population of between 2,000 and 4,000 students. Splitting the RCSD into multiple smaller districts would allow administrators, teachers and staff to focus on a smaller, more manageable group of students.