After months of discussions, the USD 232 in De Soto Board of Education adopted the state’s open enrollment policy.
In a meeting on Dec. 4, the school board voted 6-1 to adopt the state’s mandated nonresident student enrollment policy. Outgoing board member Bill Fletcher cast the dissenting vote. No board member offered commentary on the policy before voting.
What’s included in the policy?
Under the accepted plan, enrollment capacity in kindergarten through 8th grade will be determined by student-teacher ratio in each grade at each school.
For high school, capacity will be determined by student-teacher ratio for each building.
On June 1, prior to the 2024-25 school year, the district will announce the number of open seats each grade has at each building.
Then, from June 1 to 30, nonresident students could apply to enroll in USD 232.
The board focused on the number of open seats
If the number of applications is equal to or less than the number of open seats, all nonresident applicants would be accepted.
If the number of applications exceeds a school’s capacity, the district would use a lottery process to randomly choose nonresident students to fill the available slots.
Nonresident students can be denied enrollment only if there is no capacity and they are not selected in the lottery.
Certain nonresident students will get priority
Under the policy, nonresident students who would get priority include:
- Any sibling of a nonresident student accepted to enroll in the district, with priority given when the nonresident student is first accepted.
- Any nonresident student who is a military student as defined in K.S.A. 72-5139.
- Any child who is in the custody of the Kansas Department for Children and Families and who is living in the home of a nonresident student who transfers to the district.
- Any child who is experiencing homelessness shall be permitted to enroll in the school district of origin or the school district of residence.
The district added changes to current policy
The accepted plan added a change for students who are juniors that move away from USD 232 before their senior year.
Now, students who go through their junior year in USD 232 to be able to finish it out, even if they move out of the district, as long as they remain in good standing.
In a previous meeting, Alvie Cater, assistant superintendent, also suggested the policy could cover grades 9-12.
The board has called for repealing open enrollment
During its November board meeting, the board also unanimously approved a resolution to repeal the law requiring nonresident open enrollment.
“The position of the board is that they would encourage the legislature to allow local boards of education to decide whether or not to allow nonresident students to enroll,” Cater said during the meeting. “Essentially, the board believes that is a local decision and should remain as such.”
The resolution was given to Kansas legislators who represent the areas where USD 232 is located and Gov. Kelly. In addition, the school board will continue to seek input from other neighboring school boards to hear their perspectives on the new state law.
Go deeper: Watch USD 232’s video on open enrollment
