Families in Sacramento City Unified schools have more educational choices than ever, a good thing.

Part of this array of choices is a host of public charter schools – six operated directly by the school district and six operated by nonprofits.

But there's a major flaw in the setup. The district does not provide information to parents about all the public school choices within its boundaries.

The school board is considering some changes to remedy this major defect in district policy. While the sentiment to make fixes is good, the details are terrible.

The board on Thursday will receive information from the staff (Item 10.2 at 8:06 p.m.) and should send a clear message that parts of the current proposal are unacceptable.

It makes charter schools jump all sorts of hoops even to get on the district Web site. And charter schools remain shut out of many of the usual recruiting avenues open to other public schools.

This is ridiculous. The Jan. 12-Feb. 6 open enrollment period is rapidly approaching, where families make their choices and enter a districtwide lottery for enrollment at any school that has space. The district will be sending out information on the options by mid-December. Schools already are scheduling open houses and "Options Nights."

Going forward, the school board should adopt a basic principle: If the school district authorizes a public charter school, that school should be publicized to parents and students the same way as all other public schools in the district.

There is one good part in the proposed new policy: District staff members are recommending that charter schools have access to the open enrollment process. For the first time, all charter schools authorized by the board would be in the district's mail package and Web site offerings, so families can make their choices and enter the lottery. The bad part: This would be only a one-year pilot.

The proposed policy has some terrible parts that require a start-over:

• Access to placement on the district Web site. Charter schools from New Technology High School to the Language Academy to Sacramento Charter High School would be listed only on a "case-by-case basis." Placement would be a "privilege." These schools would have to show they are in "good standing" and then "enter into an agreement." This is nonsense. The district already does annual reviews of its charter schools and extensive reviews during the five-year renewal process.

• Access to schools for open houses and "Options Nights." The district has six comprehensive high schools and six small high schools (some charters, some not). These schools recruit at the middle schools leading up to the open enrollment process. In the past, individual principals could decide to include charter schools or not. That arbitrary policy was bad enough, but now things are worse. This year, charter schools run by nonprofits (independent charters), such as Sacramento High, will not be allowed access to middle school campuses for recruiting.

The Sac City school board has authorized 12 charter schools. Its obligation is to provide information about all public schools – not just some or on a "case-by-case basis."

Board members need to ensure that their policies creating choice, diversity and variety are matched by policies that ensure that families know about their options. These are public schools and the public deserves to know about all of them.