Blue Valley became the final big Johnson County public school district to finalize its open enrollment plan for the 2024-25 school year.
The policy stems from a sweeping education law passed by the Kansas Legislature last year and signed by Gov. Laura Kelly that requires public school districts in the state to allow for the transfer and enrollment of students who live outside their boundaries, provided there is available space.
The Blue Valley school board on Monday voted to approve the district’s plan for implementing the law, starting next year.
The Blue Valley School District’s plan mirrors other Johnson County school districts’ plans, including those already approved in Olathe, Shawnee Mission and USD 232 in De Soto.
“We’ve covered this quite a bit,” Board member Tom Mitchell said Monday night. “It’s probably time to implement it and see what happens.”
How Blue Valley’s open enrollment policy will work
The policy approved Monday states that capacity for enrollment of non-resident students in Blue Valley will be determined by the district based on student-teacher ratios, expected enrollment, demand for courses, and maximum building capacities.
To qualify as a non-resident, the policy outlines that students cannot be currently under suspension or expulsion from another school district.
To maintain enrollment in Blue Valley, non-resident students will have to maintain a 90% attendance rate and cannot have more than three out-of-school suspensions.
Who gets accepted?
Students of employees, students experiencing homelessness, military students and siblings of students enrolled in the district will have priority for non-resident enrollment.
Non-resident students will be able to apply for enrollment from June 1 to June 30, 2024, ahead of the start of the 2024-25 school year in August.
If there are fewer applicants than determined open seats next year, all eligible non-resident students will be accepted for enrollment in Blue Valley.
If there are more applicants than seats, the district will select students through a lottery process by July 15.
The superintendent will assign non-resident students to a school building if approved, and all students, regardless of residency, can be assigned or transferred schools by the superintendent.
