Two Johnson County public school districts have set the number of available seats they will have available for nonresident students next school year.

On Monday, the boards of education for both USD 232 in De Soto and the Blue Valley School District approved capacity limits for the first year of state-mandated open enrollment, which starts this August for the 2024-25 school year.

Blue Valley will have a total of 86 seats available concentrated at one elementary school and one high school.

Meanwhile, USD 232 — a much smaller district — will have 34 open seats across four elementary campuses and one middle school.

The moves stem from a sweeping education law passed by the Kansas Legislature nearly two years ago 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.

Districts in Johnson County worked for months last year crafting and approving identical policies to meet the law’s mandates. Those policies lay out a process that starts with each district setting capacity limits for nonresident students.

Districts’ capacity limits are determined by a number of factors, including current student-teacher ratios, expected future enrollment, demand for certain courses and school buildings’ maximum capacities.

Blue Valley opens seats for nonresident students at 2 schools

As part of its nonresident student enrollment policy, Blue Valley determined the only schools with available seats that meet the recommended pupil-to-teacher ratio are Blue Valley Southwest High School and Aspen Grove Elementary, both in the district’s growing southern reaches.

For Aspen Grove, the district announced it has 46 seats open:

• 6 in kindergarten
• 11 in first grade
• 15 in second grade
• 14 in third grade

For Blue Valley Southwest, the district has 40 seats open:

• 18 in 10th grade
• 15 in 11th grade
• 7 in 12th grade

The Blue Valley school board on Monday voted unanimously to accept the enrollment capacity numbers with a 7-0 vote.

USD 232 will have 34 open seats districtwide

Likewise, USD 232’s enrollment plan for nonresident students determined it will have 34 available seats.

Those seats will be apportioned across five schools:

• 8 in first grade at Clear Creek Elementary,
• 4 in second grade and 4 in fifth grade at Prairie Ridge Elementary,
• 4 in third grade at Riverview Elementary
• 4 in fourth grade at Starside Elementary
• and 10 in eighth grade at Monticello Trails Middle School.

The board voted to adopt the enrollment capacity numbers by a 6-0 vote. Boardmember Stephanie Makalous was absent.

Alive Cater, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Administration and Communications, said schools like Mill Valley and De Soto high school are considered at capacity and cannot add students.

“We determined that those [student-teacher] ratios were already above what we would consider ideal,” he said. “At this point in time, both high schools will be closed to nonresident enrollment.”

Nonresident students must still qualify for enrollment

Even after each district’s capacity limits are set, nonresident students applying to either Blue Valley or USD 232 must still meet certain criteria to be enrolled.

Most notably, nonresident students in either district will have to maintain a 90% attendance rate and cannot have more than three out-of-school suspensions in order to stay enrolled.

To qualify as a nonresident enrollee in either district, students also cannot be currently under suspension or expulsion from another school district.

Some nonresident students will also have priority when applying to either Blue Valley or USD 232, including children of district employees, students experiencing homelessness, military students and siblings of students enrolled in the districts.

Nonresident students will be able to apply in June

For both districts, nonresident students will be able to apply for enrollment online from June 1 to June 30, ahead of the start of the 2024-25 school year in August.

For USD 232, Cater said the district is working on making sure the websites for enrolling are ready to go to avoid any technical problems.

“June 1 is a Saturday. So our plan is, some time that last week of May, we want to make sure that we have everything ready to go,” he said.

For both Blue Valley and USD 232, if there are fewer applicants than open seats next year, all eligible nonresident students will be accepted. If there are more applicants than seats, the districts will select students through a lottery process by July 15.

Superintendent in both Blue Valley and USD 232 will assign nonresident students to an available school building if approved, and all students — regardless of residency — can be assigned or transferred schools by the superintendent.