Ever since Lawrence decided to build a second public high school, district officials, as well as the community at large, have placed a high priority on “equity” — the need to make sure that Lawrence High School and Free State High School offer the same level of facilities and instruction for their students.

Knowing that socioeconomic status is a major factor in student performance, the district drew the boundary line for the two schools from east to west down 15th Street in an effort to provide approximately the same socioeconomic balance at both schools. However, even though the district has done a good job of equalizing student opportunities at the two schools, it has been unable to equalize students’ academic achievement. LHS has consistently lagged behind FSHS in such areas as standardized test scores and graduation rates, as well as the number of students enrolled in advanced classes and the number taking the ACT college entrance exam.

This school year, 43 percent of students at LHS are enrolled in the free and reduced-price lunch program, which is the district’s most accurate socioeconomic measure; 31 percent of FSHS students are enrolled in that program. However, students and teachers at both schools are quick to say it’s wrong to use the lunch data as the basis for generalized judgments about the schools. Both schools, they say, have students who face unstable living situations; one school isn’t “better” than the other.

As noted above, the school district has done a good job of making sure students at both schools have broad course offerings, qualified teachers and good facilities, but providing “equal” opportunities hasn’t been enough to improve student success at LHS. If LHS has a larger number of students facing socioeconomic challenges, maybe that school needs more counselors or support programs for its students. That means more spending, which is hard to come by given the current state funding situation, and school board members may have to look at directing a disproportionate amount of resources to LHS in an effort to balance student achievement levels between the two schools.

Both Lawrence high schools are great schools that have graduation and test scores that exceed state and national averages, and it would be tragic for them to gain reputations as “the good high school” and “the better high school” in Lawrence. This is a tough situation and school district officials should be congratulated for having open discussions about how to improve it. Their efforts are important to the futures of both LHS and FSHS.