portfolio districts

Jal Mehta writes at Education Week:

I see three reasons to support a portfolio district type model, whereby schools are freed from many top down regulations, parents are given choice across public schools, and the role of the district and state is to support this system of schools rather than to run a school system.

Mehta cites Mapleton Public Schools as a portfolio district. Looks like they've got at least one "back to basics" school.

A friend tells me that Louisville, Kentucky had a portfolio system in the 1960s.