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2010 General Assembly & Competing for Students 2012 General Assembly & Governorship (Pg. 1 - Index) (Pg. 2 - Funding Effects) 2011 General Assembly & Governorship (Pg. 1 - Index) (Pg. 2) (Pg. 3 - Bills) (Pg. 4 - Commentary...) (Pg. 5 - Vic's Updates) (Pg. 6 - Effects) (Pg. 7 - Voting) 2010 General Assembly & Governorship (Pg. 1 - Index) (Pg.
2) (Pg. 3) (Pg.
4) (Pg. 5 - School
Impact) (Pg. 5.1 - School Impact)
(Pg. 6 - Local
Gov't Impact) 2009 General Assembly & Governorship (Pg. 1) (Pg. 2) 2008 General Assembly & Governorship (Pg. 1) (Pg. 2) Introduction (8/21/10) - The 2010 Indiana General Assembly approved changes that set the stage for competing for students, regardless of their residence, among public school corporations. Indiana Code 20-26-11-6 allows a school corporation to accept a transferring student without the approval of the corporation where the student resides. Furthermore, it allows the receiving corporation to do so without charging tuition. These changes are of critical importance since Indiana funds schools based upon the number of students enrolled. The Indiana Department of Education has a Q & A on this topic that will be found here. Below is an overview of what is happening around Indiana as a result of these changes.
Eastern Eliminating Transfer Tuition, Other
Schools Will Continue Charging For Out-Of-District Students (Kokomo Tribune,
8/21/10) By DANIELLE RUSH Kokomo — In past years, a student who wanted to enroll in the Eastern Howard Schools but lived in another district had to pay a few thousand dollars in tuition. After the state began funding schools’ general funds, Eastern dropped its tuition to $300 per year, and starting in the 2010 to 2011 school year, there will be no tuition charged to out-of-district students who enroll in half-day kindergarten or grades 1 to 12 before the official student count day. Superintendent Tracy Caddell said if the students transfer before the count day, the school is already receiving money for them. He said any transfer student must be approved by the building principal. He said transfer tuition students are the only growth he anticipates in the near future. “We have to market our school corporation,” he said, adding that the corporation is putting up a billboard on Ind. 22 to advertise. “We think the billboard is worth the cost because if only one student registers, we will have met the cost of the advertisement,” he said. Caddell said, though, there will still be a tuition fee for children in the full-day kindergarten program. That fee, of approximately $875, covers the difference between what the state provides for the program and what it costs to offer it. So far, no other Kokomo-area schools have announced plans to follow Eastern’s lead. Kokomo Superintendent Chris Himsel had no comment on tuition. At Northwestern, Superintendent Ryan Snoddy said the board has not yet decided what it will charge in tuition. This school year, the charge was $600 for students who came in before the state count day, which determines the amount of student funding the school will receive. Snoddy said when the school general fund was still funded through property taxes, tuition was about $4,500. The $600 now charged covers what the student’s family would have paid in property taxes for the capital projects fund and debt service fund. Northwestern charges about $1,000 for full-day kindergarten, and offers no half-day program. Western now charges about $100 per semester for students who come in before count day. “We charged that last year and we intend on doing that again next year,” Superintendent Peter O’Rourke. He added that the district no longer accepts out-of-district students after the count day, which is usually in mid-September. “The bulk of the money for students now comes from the general fund. If we didn’t take them before the [count] day, the people would have to pay a huge amount because their state money would go where they were on that day.” O’Rourke said the current school year, there are close to 35 transfer students, and his office has already received more than 20 requests for the 2010 to 2011 school year. O’Rourke said Western offers only full-day kindergarten, and so far has not charged tuition for it. He said, though, if the state full-day kindergarten grant is not enough to fund the program, the corporation may have to consider a fee. “We’re not intending to charge, but we won’t know until we get a better handle on numbers, with enrollment and the kindergarten grant,” he said.
Editorial: Anderson Community Schools Expects To Lose 600 Students To Other Area
School Systems (retitled, The Herald Bulletin, 8/21/10) Editorial: ACS needs to face new reality ANDERSON, Ind. — It was stunning to read that Anderson Community Schools
expects to lose 600 students at the start of this school year. Daleville
received 72 of those students, and no doubt Frankton, Lapel, Alexandria and
Yorktown took their share. Last winter, amidst debate on whether to
transform ACS into a one high school system, many parents made known that they
would take their children out of the system if that happened. That’s come to
pass. Some Montpelier Students Cross County Line Into Wells County Schools (IED, 8/21/10) MONTPELIER -- At least 50 students from Blackford County Schools -- most of them from Montpelier -- started the new school year Monday at a new school corporation. As of mid-day, Southern Wells Community Schools counted 52 transferred students from neighboring Blackford County in its classrooms. Southern Wells Supt. Jim Craig said the total included 32 students at the junior-senior high school and 20 at the elementary school. School
Doors Open For Dollars As Corporations Fight For Enrollment (retitled,
Evansville Courier & Press, 8/21/10) A new school year begins in much of the region today amid unprecedented competition for enrollment and tuition revenues. Under Indiana's K-12 education funding formula, dollars follow students. That policy change has hurt public school districts with stagnant or declining enrollment. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and several other area districts have eliminated fees charged to nonresidents as they try to boost student numbers. Some local private and parochial schools, too, are aggressively marketing themselves to families.EVSC Superintendent Vincent Bertram, speaking at a back-to-school rally for staff Tuesday at The Centre, acknowledged the newly competitive environment in local education. Throughout the school year, Bertram said, the EVSC will emphasize quality "customer service." "If we don't meet the needs of our customer, someone or something else will," Bertram said. Official enrollment numbers won't be available until October, but EVSC officials say they expect an influx of transfer students for the academic year opening today. Bertram said new high school curriculum programs in the EVSC such as the Early College High School, the New Tech Academy and the Randall Shepard Academy for Law and Social Justice have been a draw for nonresidents. The Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon, which has lost enrollment in recent years and had to close a school this year because of budget cuts, has been using billboard advertising on Evansville's West Side to promote Marrs Elementary School. During Bertram's presentation to EVSC staff Tuesday, he showed a photograph of that billboard on the auditorium screen. The billboard states that "Mount Vernon is only minutes from the West Side of Evansville," and Bertram drew laughs when he said, "By the way, the West Side is only minutes from Mount Vernon." Local nonpublic schools... ...Bertram on Tuesday told the 3,000 or so EVSC teachers gathered at The Centre that their work is important. "Our children don't need excuses, they need solutions. They need us," Bertram said. Schools Reporting
Transfers On The Rise; By Eliminating Fees, Parents Can Send Their Children To
The School Of Their Choice (Kokomo Tribune, 8/23/10) By DANIELLE RUSH Kokomo — Some parents like the idea of their children attending the school they themselves attended as children, even if their family does not live in that district. Others are attracted to specific programs in another school, or would like to send their children somewhere closer to their workplace. Before this school year, parents could pay tuition in the neighborhood of $5,000 per year to send their children to another public school. This year, however, after the state removed the school general fund from property tax, all five Howard County schools eliminated transfer tuition for children who enroll before the official state count day Sept. 17. The general fund is now based on the number of students enrolled on the count day. While all five superintendents reported they have accepted new students, some are concerned the competition is not good for the schools. Final numbers will not be available until after Sept. 17. The four county schools all reported accepting students from Kokomo-Center Schools, and Western Superintendent Peter O’Rourke said he has talked to parents who “seem to be in a panic mode” about Kokomo’s consolidation. However, Superintendent Jeff Hauswald said enrollment is 60 students higher than projected, and enrollment is up from the end of the previous school year. He said, though, enrollment is currently about 100 students fewer than on count day in 2009, but “those numbers are not firm. Our September count day is what matters.” Hauswald said he has received notification from other area schools of Kokomo students transferring out, but did not have firm numbers yet. He added that some of those were students who had attended private school in past years and had never been enrolled in the district. He said Kokomo has received 37 applications for parents who want their children to transfer into Kokomo-Center Schools. Some of those parents are choosing Kokomo for convenience, because they work in the city and it’s easier to bring their children to Kokomo, and others are attracted to Kokomo-Center’s programs, including the gifted and talented program and large number of AP classes at the high school. Northwestern Superintendent Ryan Snoddy said parents are not necessarily moving because they are unhappy with their current school. Of the 86 transfer students approved at his district so far, he said, many of the parents wanted their children to attend the same school they themselves attended as a child. “That seems to be the overwhelming theme,” he said, adding that others are transferring so children can go to their grandparents’ house in the district after school. Others live in one school district but are closer to Northwestern schools, he added. Many are coming from Kokomo, he said, while others came from Cass, Carroll and Miami counties. Snoddy said two-thirds of the incoming students are elementary school children. He said the response meant he filled teaching vacancies left by retirement that he had not planned to fill. He said the additional revenue does not help as much if schools have to build additions or hire more staff to accommodate them... ...Eastern Superintendent Tracy Caddell said even with losses in the small school grant and restoration grant due to increased enrollment, the additional students should generate an additional $2,000 to $3,000 for the corporation... ...He does not know of any Eastern students who transferred to other schools. He thinks the choice of full-day or half-day kindergarten was attractive to some parents, and others may have come for the elementary Chinese program or the fine arts programs Eastern offers. At Western, Superintendent Peter O’Rourke said the corporation had 82 transfer applications, and was able to accept 61, 40 of whom came from Kokomo-Center. Taylor Superintendent John Magers did not have transfer numbers, but said he had heard some parents chose to send their kids to Taylor High School for the new tech high school program. In Tipton County, Tri-Central Community Schools charges “minimal” tuition for out-of-district students who enroll before the count day, Superintendent Lee Williford said. He said about 20 transfer students have enrolled, while about 10 Tri-Central students are attending other schools. Maconaquah Superintendent Doug Arnold said about 60 transfer students have enrolled at his district, which has also waived fees. He said many of the parents plan to move into the district but have not yet moved, and others are attracted to the small-school atmosphere. Students are coming from Peru, Kokomo, Logansport, Russiaville and Wabash, he said. Many area superintendents think the state funding change means schools will have to compete with one another for students, and that concerns them. Caddell said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and Gov. Mitch Daniels have both said competition is good for schools, and parents should be able to send their children to the schools of their choice. “Personally, I don’t think it’s the best way to fund schools in Indiana. I do feel bad that some schools are being negatively impacted through our marketing.” Hauswald said he would rather collaborate than compete. For example, he said, a Kokomo student who wants to study agriculture could go to a county school that offers that program, while a county school student might want to come to Kokomo for its large number of foreign language classes, which smaller school may not have the resources to offer. “I’m not sure competition is healthier than collaboration,” he said. Snoddy agreed the competition may not be good for schools, and said Northwestern will not follow Eastern, Western and Kokomo’s lead in advertising and marketing. “We’re not going to market our school per se. I’m proud of what we do at Northwestern, but we want that to speak for itself.” Arnold said the competition may force schools to examine their programs and what they need to improve. “Let’s be very honest, we’re talking about competing for scarce resources. If it causes people to look at our programs and our test scores, it certainly is going to cause us to put our best foot forward.” • Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at 765-454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com. State Superintendent Refers To South Central Community Schools Sending Buses Into Other Districts - At No Cost To Families - To Pick Up Transfer Students (9/11/10) During his State of Education Address on August 23, 2010 State Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett said, "I have never seen schools compete so aggressively to attract students. Several districts are advertising student performance and academic offerings to encourage families to transfer into their schools. In LaPorte County, South Central Community Schools Superintendent Christopher Smith sends his school buses into other districts—at no cost to families—to pick up students who transfer to his schools." Dr. Bennett also commented there are a little over 125 students being served in this way. (This reference to "125" appears in the video, however, not in the transcript.) (video and transcript) Non-Resident Students Affect Enrollment Numbers In Grant County (IED, 9/26/10) "...(Marion Community Schools) is down 229
students, Marion Superintendent Steve Edwards said. He said the unofficial
average daily membership (ADM) number was 3,948.5; the Indiana
Department of Education counts each kindergarten student as half... ...Other district superintendents have previously
said they can’t be sure where majority of their non-resident students come
from, but they can be sure those numbers have increased. 12,000 Don't Attend
Their Local School - Number Of Transfer Students Soars (retitled, Ft. Wayne
Journal Gazette, 12/7/10) INDIANAPOLIS – When they wake for school in the morning, more than 12,000 Hoosier students, instead of hopping on a bus to get to a nearby high school, head to class in a district in which they don’t live. Most are taking advantage of a relatively new trend in Indiana – going to the public school of their choice, tuition-free. The number of kids going to school in a district in which they don’t live has almost quadrupled since the 2008-09 school year, when about 3,100 students attended classes in other districts. This year’s 12,000 figure represents 1.2 percent of the overall enrollment in the state. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said the competition aspect of the transfers is great. “They are recruiting kids, absolutely,” he said. “But the most encouraging piece is the recruiting focuses on academics.” Bennett said a few districts in the state have taken out billboards and sent mailers seeking new students. Others even send buses into adjoining districts to pick up new students, though that is rare. “I truly believe that choice is something that all of our parents should have around the state,” said Karyle Green, superintendent of East Allen County Schools. “Parents are going to do what they need to do to get the best education for their child.” The increase in “cash transfers” is directly related to the state taking over operating costs for schools in 2009. Because local property taxes no longer finance schools’ general funds, state money can follow the student. Districts don’t have to worry about educating students whose families, through property taxes, aren’t helping support its schools. Many schools in the state now have tuition-free transfer policies – as long as the students are enrolled on count day in September. The state uses the enrollment number from count day to calculate funding for districts. It’s up to districts to decide whether they will accept transfers. Many have policies requiring minimum grades and prohibiting transfers if the student has a history of disciplinary problems. Transportation largely is not provided. The new rules could be especially helpful for schools that have extra space and flat enrollment – such as East Allen County Schools. “Without transfer students we could potentially be a declining enrollment district,” Green said. “This is keeping our funding stream steady.” East Allen this year has 125 students who live outside the district’s boundaries. It is the highest in northeast Indiana and in the top 25 of the state, according to data from the Indiana Department of Education. Green said she believes many people are choosing East Allen because it’s a bit smaller than neighboring districts. That means there may be more opportunities for more interaction with teachers and for participation in extracurricular activities. Fort Wayne Community Schools has 48 out-of-district students. Southwest Allen County Schools and Northwest Allen County Schools don’t accept out-of-district transfers. Frankton-Lapel Community Schools has the most cash transfers in Indiana – 528, which accounts for almost 20 percent of the district’s enrollment. Superintendent Bobby Fields said his numbers jumped greatly when Highland High School in nearby Anderson closed and many students transferred. In fact, this was the first year Frankton had to turn away transfer applicants. “To us it’s an advantage because we are getting more funding in these difficult times and that is helpful. We haven’t had to cut programs or lay off teachers,” Fields said. “It’s really saved us in a lot of ways.” Adams Central Community Schools is another district in the area taking advantage of cash transfers, with 119 this year, according to the Department of Education. Superintendent Michael Pettibone said there is an application process, and the district has set limits in each grade on the number of transfers so that class sizes don’t jump up. For instance, this year the district had a larger-than-usual freshman class, so no transfer students in that grade were accepted. He said the majority of the transfers come from the North Adams Community Schools district. But Pettibone noted that some of the kids were not in public school, meaning North Adams did not lose all those students. Some were from private schools or were previously home-schooled, he said. “I’m not competing with anybody. I’m just trying to do the best we can. We are a smaller district that is a little more conservative, and people like that,” Pettibone said. “You get to choose your doctor, your church, your grocery. Why not your school?” But it does mean less money for some districts losing students. “It’s competition,” said Dennis Costerison, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials. “It does pit schools against other schools and that could get messy for lack of a better term.” Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, thinks the increase in transfers is new and interesting but ultimately won’t result in a mass exodus. He said Minnesota has had open enrollment for years and a study showed it has affected only 1 percent of students. Kruse also noted that restrictions on transfers for athletic reasons are still in place and there are other barriers that will limit transfers. A big one is transportation. Few districts can afford to add buses or routes. That means getting the kids to school – and extracurricular activities – is up to the students and their parents. Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, said students from low-income families can’t really take advantage because they can’t pay for that extra burden. “It’s always the case that those who have the means can do more,” he said. “We should keep an eye on that.” Another key issue is classroom space. Costerison said when districts need a new building the transfers complicate issues because parents of those children don’t pay district property taxes, which fund new construction. “If you need to ask the public for a referendum to build a building, I don’t care what the purpose is, it’s going to be tough to do,” he said. Bennett also said some schools could be seen as “skimming” the best students – a practice that could cause civil rights concerns in the future. Other than that, he said it’s hard to find concerns with the transfers. “I think it’s a good thing, especially when school corporations are focusing on meeting the needs of the children.” |
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