We're talking about kids outside of the Somerset Independent "district" but within Pulaski counties, correct?

 

Correct. Somerset has a few students from Laurel County, which had its schools listed as "in crisis" or whatever the term is that allowed them to go to neighboring school districts without any kind of agreement. Pulaski allows us to have the 240 kids from their district but they can stop that anytime that they want so there is a delicate balance there. If Somerset tries to accept more and charge full tuition then they would probably net less actual students because Pulaski would revoke the agreement. When you're that small of a school you can't afford to lose 240 students. Still I'm not in favor of a public/private splilt, I'd just like to see open enrollment. In smaller town like Somerset it probably wouldn't make that big of a difference but it would make everything more level than it is now--then it would be more of a urban/rural difference and there's not much that can be done about that--the class system should keep things as even as possible.

What Sticky was getting at, I think, is the fact that local boards of education have the unfettered right to accept out of district students if they so choose. If the out of district student comes from a district with which the attending school has a reciprocity agreement (which is voluntarily entered into between the two districts) then the attending district gets the state ADA money and the home district does not. If there is not reciprocity agreement because one of the two districts would not agree to it (and thus the attending district does not get the state ADA money), the attending district normally will charge the out of district student some amount of tuition to compensate the attending district for the cost of educating the out of district student. At least that's what I think Sticky was trying to say. :laugh:

 

I completely agree with that and understand it. I was asking where this started? I don't believe that a school board said we are going to take this much of an area ect......I believe that someone set these to start with. I would think the Ky. Department of ED.?

Not exactly so as Pulaski County is not the same size of Fayette County, Jefferson County or Northern Kentucky.

 

Now a private school IN Pulaski County, I can agree with that.

 

You point out the size differential but again fail to point out that Lex, Lou, and N. Ky have a lot and I mean a lot more high schools handling the increased number of students. Which means of course that the likelihood of any school accepting out of district students being able to funnel all the good student/athletes into it are slim to none. We've discussed this in the past, have we not?:thumb:

I completely agree with that and understand it. I was asking where this started? I don't believe that a school board said we are going to take this much of an area ect......I believe that someone set these to start with. I would think the Ky. Department of ED.?

 

I'm sure that the KDE approved the school district boundaries when they were originally set up. I do believe two adjacent school districts can agree to adjust their boundaries if they want to and KDE would approve it. I even believe that if the two districts won't agree to an adjustment, that one district upon a proper showing can get KDE to make the adjustment. I believe the Ft. Thomas district tried to do the latter to get the part of the city that is not in the Ft. Thomas District added to the district's boundaries since the Campbell County District would not agree to the change but KDE said no (which makes zero sense since its only a few states and the Campbell County District has to send buses into Ft. Thomas to pick up the kids not in the Ft. Thomas District.

 

But that's a completely different issue than being able to accept out of district students.

I'm sure that the KDE approved the school district boundaries when they were originally set up. I do believe two adjacent school districts can agree to adjust their boundaries if they want to and KDE would approve it. I even believe that if the two districts won't agree to an adjustment, that one district upon a proper showing can get KDE to make the adjustment. I believe the Ft. Thomas district tried to do the latter to get the part of the city that is not in the Ft. Thomas District added to the district's boundaries since the Campbell County District would not agree to the change but KDE said no (which makes zero sense since its only a few states and the Campbell County District has to send buses into Ft. Thomas to pick up the kids not in the Ft. Thomas District.

 

But that's a completely different issue than being able to accept out of district students.

 

Thank you.

They charge $250 per semester which, as I understand it, goes to the Pulaski County system then the Somerset system receives the rest of the money from the state. The problem with accepting more than the agreed upon number of students is that Pulaski County can at any time rescind the agreement and take away the 240 kids that it allows. If that were to happen it would cripple the system financially. With the limited money that public schools already have how do you propose that they accept students without state money. Most public schools don't have an endowment--how would you propose that the pay their teachers? Somerset is not affluent enough to have all those kids pay the full cost of the state money that they would lose.

 

So you're saying that financially Somerset Independent Schools are dependent on taking students that live outside their district?

What Sticky was getting at, I think, is the fact that local boards of education have the unfettered right to accept out of district students if they so choose. If the out of district student comes from a district with which the attending school has a reciprocity agreement (which is voluntarily entered into between the two districts) then the attending district gets the state ADA money and the home district does not. If there is not reciprocity agreement because one of the two districts would not agree to it (and thus the attending district does not get the state ADA money), the attending district normally will charge the out of district student some amount of tuition to compensate the attending district for the cost of educating the out of district student. At least that's what I think Sticky was trying to say. :laugh:

 

Without the lawyer speak, correct...

I think some schools that lose a large amount of students to other districts or private schools in which they do not have a reciprocal agreement with, may want to be careful what they wish for. While they'll keep the students from their district, they're also going to have to pay for those kids in their district, which they haven't done in the past...

So you're saying that financially Somerset Independent Schools are dependent on taking students that live outside their district?

 

240 out of their 1600 students in grades K-12 come from outside the district, without them they would have to eliminate several teaching positions. As it is now the system has a very good student/teacher ratio of 14/1 and if the funds from those 240 students were not available it would mean the loss of at least 9 teachers just at the high school level. Somerset would have a very tough time surviving without the County students. When I went to school at Somerset the Pulaski system did not impose a limit on the number of kids that could attend Somerset and tuition was $500 a semester (this was in the late 80's) however, after the Pulaski system opened a second high school the quota was imposed.

I didn't say anything about whether Somerset had a direct issue with the privates or whether they should be spearheading the movement. My question and statements were a direct response to The Guru's statement (which he hasn't commented on) that the public school's impose their own boundries. Personally I wish that all schools just had open enrollment then none of this would matter.

 

I apologize for having pigeon holed you.

If those students weren't there then the teachers wouldn't be needed would they?

 

Maybe the Pulaski County Schools need more students so thay are not "crippled" financially and that's why they demanded the limit?

 

Maybe I'm 100% wrong, and if I am I would like to know it, but what I am reading is that Somerset takes students (and state funding) away from Pulaski County Schools and so this will be allowed to continue they pay Pulaski County.

There are no boundaries restricting anyone from attending any school. There are only self-imposed boundaries set by local school districts.

 

I respectfully disagree. Leatherneck and I have discussed this. The statute I rely upon is KRS 159.010. The law says a child between 6 and 16 must attend the public school district in which he resides, unless he meets one of the exemption criterion. The exemption criterion deal with nonpublic or parochial education. So you cannot just pick up and go to another public school if you don't live there. The annotations of case law and Attorney General opinions support this, specifically.

 

Technically, what you are saying is that a school district can define its own boundaries. Bardstown could take the whole state, if they wanted to. But then they would be violating the law regarding taxation without representation. Everyone seems to forget that school boards are voted upon. So when they say, "this school district has a potentially limitless boundary," they are arguing an impractical distinction without a difference.

 

I've looked at the Interlocal Cooperative Act in KRS 65 and it doesn't change anything related to elections.

 

KRS 160.010 states that each county constitutes a separate school district. So I don't know how a county school district can "extend its boundaries" into another county.

 

I think people are confusing "extend boundaries" with "accepting out of district pupils whom apply." They are not one and the same.

I apologize for having pigeon holed you.

 

No problem, I see the Public/Private thing as more of a Urban/Rural thing. Somerset's size is going to be limited no matter whether there was an open enrollment policy or not and a team like NCC would normally have an advantage simply because they would have a larger population base to draw their students from--not because they can "recruit." If you have a good school and a good athletic program good students and athletes will want to go there if the policy allows it.

If those students weren't there then the teachers wouldn't be needed would they?

 

Maybe the Pulaski County Schools need more students so thay are not "crippled" financially and that's why they demanded the limit?

 

Maybe I'm 100% wrong, and if I am I would like to know it, but what I am reading is that Somerset takes students (and state funding) away from Pulaski County Schools and so this will be allowed to continue they pay Pulaski County.

 

No, they've got plenty of students--both High Schools are 5A. Somerset regularly scores higher than the County Schools on testing and in % of graduates that attend college--the limit seems more born out of ensuring that they don't lose more students to Somerset. As for not needing the teachers it isn't as simple as saying that you're going to simply eliminate teachers in general. The problem would be in having to eliminate programs outside of the core curriculum--that would seriously hurt the students opportunities.

You point out the size differential but again fail to point out that Lex, Lou, and N. Ky have a lot and I mean a lot more high schools handling the increased number of students. Which means of course that the likelihood of any school accepting out of district students being able to funnel all the good student/athletes into it are slim to none. We've discussed this in the past, have we not?:thumb:

 

Yes, we have. But still makes for good discussions with you.:thumb:

 

I will say it is more likely that the students get funneled to one or a small number of good schools in those areas.

 

I go back to my analogy of an elementary school that you will see all over the state. The clique will tell everyone that a certain teacher is the best because the best students are in that class. When in actuality the best teacher may be in the lower kids class who is getting those kids up to reading on grade level when they are several grade levels below.

 

But because the "smartest," "A grouping" kids are all cliqued into one teacher's classroom, that teacher is going to get the reputation of the best teachers because her kids are the smartest.

 

I contend that some of the VERY BEST teaching NKY does not happen at the schools that have reputations of putting out the very best students, it happens at HOLMES high school where they don't have the community and parental advantages of the schools that have the academic reputation.