I was relieved to read Superintendent Xavier Botana’s Aug. 7 letter about how Portland Public Schools will create a process “striving to understand the reasons students select schools and how to avoid another large single-year swing” such as the one between Deering and Portland high schools this fall. A related story, in the Aug. 3 newspaper, implied that the school department would “solve” the problem by capping or otherwise restricting school choice.

This would have been a mistake, since school choice, by encouraging competition among schools, creates impetus for improvement. It’s good to know that Portland Public Schools apparently will preserve freedom of selection, while assessing the root cause of this fall’s disproportionate enrollment shift.

John Voyer

Portland