Kokomo — February may seem a little early to start thinking about where a child will attend school in August.
But for those parents who want to send their child to a school district other than where they reside, earlier is better, and applications are now being accepted.
In 2010, all Howard County schools either dropped or minimized the transfer tuition fees for students who live outside the district, after the state took over funding schools’ general funds, rather than local property tax payers. That means the school’s state funding is based on how many students are enrolled on the official count day in September.
Most of the schools admitted students based on academic and disciplinary records, raising some concerns about fairness in the process.
Stephanie Sample, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Education, said the issue is not on Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett’s legislative agenda, but “we do expect some sort of legislation could pop up,” regarding it.
“There are a lot of conversations taking place around this very topic,” she said.
For next school year, Northwestern Superintendent Ryan Snoddy encourages parents to apply early. He said families who complete and turn in their applications by April 1 will be eligible for early approval by May 1. Applications received after April 1 will be considered as space is available, and parents will be notified if their child may attend in early August.
“We want to try to target the bulk of approvals for May. From that point on, we will be able to tell how much space is available by grade level and building, and make final acceptance by the time school starts. Their best opportunity is to apply early for early acceptance.”
He said applications will be stamped with the time and date received. Principals will review the applications and student health records, academic records and disciplinary records to determine if the child may attend.
In 2010, he said, the board approved about 90 transfer tuition students, and the majority enrolled. He said no classes completely filled, but several elementary levels and eighth grade were very near capacity.
Snoddy thinks Northwestern’s reputation is attractive to families.
“I think the environment they see and hear about at Northwestern is pretty high for academic achievement. We provide a safe, orderly, well-maintained facility that facilitates their learning.”
Eastern Superintendent Tracy Caddell said he would like to have another 35 to 55 students enroll, which would provide money to expand programs. He would like to add a reading specialist and guidance counselor at the elementary level, and Spanish at the middle school if there are more students enrolled.
“If we get the transfer tuition students, that’s going to help us expand programs like foreign language,” he said.
Eastern enrolled 72 transfer tuition students for the current school year.
He plans to advertise for transfer tuition students in newspapers, billboards and possibly on the radio.
Caddell anticipates being able to accept 50 to 100 students, and “after that we would be pretty maxed out in terms of classrooms.”
He said principals review the applications and determine enrollment based on space available, attendance, grades, disciplinary referrals and being on track to either graduate or be promoted to the next grade.
“We want to make sure students who come to Eastern don’t have significant disciplinary referrals” such as suspensions or expulsions, Caddell said. “It’s just the same sorts of things we expect from our own students.”
Decisions will be made as applications are received, he said, and applications will no longer be accepted once classes are filled.
Caddell said it is possible parents could be tempted away by programs at other schools, like the international schools Kokomo-Center is opening in August.
“I would certainly hope we can keep the students we have. I would like to compliment Kokomo on that initiative. Maybe it’s something we can take a look at. Competition is always good.”