LIMA — In 1989, the Ohio General Assembly passed Senate Bill 140.
The law’s primary focus was offering parents a choice in bettering their children’s education. The bill affects some local districts positively, others negatively, funding-wise.
Locally, 44 school districts are situated either all or in part of Allen, Auglaize, Putnam, Van Wert, Mercer and Hardin counties. Every one of the 44 districts experiences some impact. For some, the impact is much larger than others.
Perhaps no district feels the impact of open enrollment more than Lima City School District. The state funding amount per student was set at $5,900 in the district in the 2015-16 school year. However, the school receives about 23 percent more above that per pupil because of special-needs.
“Lima City Schools gets about $7,229 per pupil through the state funding formula,” Treasurer Shelly Reiff said. “It is higher than the $5,900 because of special-education funding. When a student leaves through open enrollment, we lose the $5,900 not the full amount. When students come to us from another district, we only get the $5,900 not the full amount.”
The Lima district lost about 19 percent of its total enrollment this school year because of open enrollment, with 182 students coming in and 1,044 leaving. Superintendent Jill Ackerman attributed the loss to the district’s location.
“Our open enrollment numbers have remained fairly consistent in the past several years,” Ackerman said. “Location can play a factor in parents choosing to open enroll. Their homes are located closer to another school district than to the school they would be enrolled in if they stayed in the Lima City Schools. Open enrollment is always an issue when a district like ours is surrounded so closely by other school districts’ buildings.”
Initially, the law applied to adjacent districts but was expanded to include a statewide option in 1998. Under current policy, school districts can have one of three open enrollment policies: Acceptance of students statewide, acceptance of students from adjacent districts, or no acceptance of open enrollment students.
Upper Scioto Valley Superintendent Dennis Recker said the system can be unfair to some districts. USV loses a net 14 percent of its enrollment because of open enrollment, a number second only to Lima schools in the area.
“The net effect is that we send $525,000 to other districts, which is the equivalent of 4.6 mills of revenue,” Recker said. “Since we are funded locally at 52 percent, and receive 48 percent from the state foundation, $273,000 is being sent to other schools. These are local USV tax dollars. In effect, we are subsidizing other districts, thanks to local taxpayers.”
Recker said he feels only state dollars should follow the student, and locally passed dollars should stay in the home district.
The effect of the law obviously leaves districts competing with each other to keep enrollment numbers up. The problem is learning where to focus those efforts.
Area superintendents were nearly unanimous in agreeing that the reasons for open enrolling their children were all over the place with no specific issues. This left districts thinking of creative ways to attract students via open enrollment.
Waynesfield-Goshen has been one of the more aggressive area schools in attracting people to the district. The district has recently put several policies into place for the upcoming school year to attract outside students or bring resident students back.
“A few unique elements for the upcoming school year is that juniors and seniors with a 2.5 GPA can arrive at school at 8:45 a.m.,” W-G Superintendent Chris Pfister said. “Students that are below a 2.5 GPA will arrive at 8 a.m. and receive help in any subject.”
At its April board meeting the W-G school board also waived all fees and tuition in three areas to eliminate any potential financial barrier for preschool, including athletics and other extracurricular activities, workbooks and school supplies. That policy will be examined on a year-by-year basis.
The three local districts benefiting the most from open enrollment are Perry, Botkins and Lincolnview. In Perry, it has reached a point where more than half the student population, 53 percent, is open enrolled. Superintendent Omer Schroeder said there are many reasons parents find the district attractive. The district even has to occasionally turn away students.
“I would say we are roughly turning away one for every one we accept,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder said they are now seeing the second generation come through.
“You see parents who went here enrolling their own children,” Schroeder said. “There were uncle or aunts that went here. I think parents are just attracted to the smaller school district. Parents are looking for something different, something better. We have that niche.”
Schroeder said another key is making sure students feel like they belong.
Botkins Superintendent Connie Schneider agreed. The Botkins district open enrolls 43 percent of its student population.
“We consider all 684 of our student population as OUR students,” Schneider said. “They are Botkins kids.
Botkins receives a significant amount of their students from the Wapakoneta district. Also, 30 percent of the open enrolled students had at least one parent who attended the school district when they were in school.
Many districts appeal to those living in the district that have open enrolled elsewhere. St. Marys Superintendent Shawn Brown said the district loses about $2,200 per student who enrolls elsewhere. The district gets the full $5,900 for a student coming in. The district sent out mailings to parents in the district asking them to come check out the district and reconsider.
“From a financial standpoint, we would like to keep all of our resident students attending our schools and to entice as many open-enrollment students as possible,” Brown said. “Nothing is ever as simple as it should be.”
For some districts, situations arise that they just cannot work around, no matter what they offer. Waynesfield Police Chief Nathan Motter is one perfect example. He open enrolls his children in the nearby Indian Lake School District.
“It has nothing to do with the staff or the education at Waynesfield-Goshen,” Motter said. “With my position as police chief, situations can arise that I just want to avoid. Recently there was a situation with a tragedy and the children involved were similar in age to my children. I was involved with the case. I did not have to worry about dealing with that situation.”
The Campos’ have kept their children in the Wapakoneta district despite moving several times.
“For us, we took a long time to find roots,” said Michelle Campos, mother to three boys who all attended Wapakoneta. “We would move town to town, St. Marys to Celina, just to move back. We always kept the boys in the same school until they felt at home in Wapakoneta. Now we live in Sidney and the boys go to school in Wapakoneta. They have a better chance at learning, and they have friends.”
Heather Doute enrolls her children in Shawnee despite living in the Lima school district.
“The girls like the environment better and feel more comfortable,” Doute said. “The Lima City Schools had them drastically behind where they should be mathematically and not prepared for the more intense curriculum of Shawnee. The curriculum is challenging with knowledgeable teachers who spend more time teaching than dealing with the issues seen at Lima Senior on a daily basis. I couldn’t be happier with the decision for the scholastics, environment, and college preparedness that Shawnee offers along with the well-being of my children.”
For Columbus Grove, they are unfortunate to have a large, 72-square mile school district that borders many others. They have several students who have had whole families attend Fort Jennings despite living in the district.
While the debate over the funding or the opportunity created by open enrollment will continue, school districts have reserved themselves that they will have to do what they need to to retain enrollment.
“At USV, we have made dramatic academic improvements,” Recker said. “We have received state awards for excellence. We were just named an exemplary district, and were a recipient of one of 20 straight A grants awarded in Ohio. With all this, will we be getting our kinds back? Probably not.
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