Public schools are often praised as bottom rock of democracy, especially when supporters claim that public schools take everyone else. But the truth is that public schools are not open to everyone.
Too often, admission is open only to students whose families can afford it buy or rent a home within district boundaries or pay tuition for transfer students. In 33 statesStudents who live outside a district’s boundaries may be excluded from its schools simply because of their geographic location.
Most states allow this some form open enrollment, which allows students to attend public schools other than their assigned residential school. However, 24 states also allow school districts to charge tuition to transfer students.
This means transfer students and their families may be exposed to expensive tuition. For example, Clayton School District in Missouri charged families of nonresident students in kindergarten through fifth grade $18,300 and families in sixth through 12th grade $19,400 for the 2023-24 school year.
In Virginia, Foundation of Reason found that the average tuition rate across 72 school divisions that allowed interdistrict transfers was $4,000, with peaks of $24,000 per student at Meridian High School in Falls Church.
At the same time, that of New York Tuxedo Union Free School District charged nonresident students in grades seven through 12 $11,000 per year for the 2022-23 school year. Yet this pales in comparison to the $20,200 charged annually by Pelham Public Schools that same year.
In cases like these, tuition puts schools out of reach for many students, especially those from low-income families.
Sometimes, neighboring school districts make special arrangements to pay each other’s tuition for transfer students. Supporters might argue that these dollars help offset the costs of new students, but in many cases it’s clear that districts are selling seats to raise extra cash.
For example, when Dacia Mumford was elected in 2022 to the school board of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation in Indiana, found that the district’s superintendent was using tuition funds as a “slush fund” for travel and other dubious expenses.
She found that school funds were diverted to a “School Promotion/RATM” fund that was funneled to credit cards used at the discretion of the superintendent. Mumford discovered that he had used these funds to pay for various travel expenses, including a trip abroad.
“April 2019 credit card statement shows $14,837 in payments to a travel agency for what appears to be travel to London, although the destination is obscured,” Mumford wrote in a September article 2022. blog post. “There are also expenses for a couple of thousand-dollar meals and several hotel rooms in Philadelphia that appear to be part of a trip for school board members.”
With the approval of the school board, these funds paid for the superintendent and others to travel to a concert in London to celebrate the new school buildings. one of which, Mumford noted, was named after a member of an artist’s family.
Additionally, these purchases occurred the same month that the school board voted to fire all first-year teachers at the district’s elementary and middle schools to save costs.
While most school districts have better control over transfer student school funding, this example highlights how some are willing to sell their seats for the right price.
However, state politicians are starting to take notice and recognize that making families pay public school tuition is an oxymoron. Last year, state politicians in Montana and North Dakota established laws that prevent school districts from charging students tuition using open enrollment.
This year, Indiana politicians followed suit. Governor Eric Holcomb signed HB1380 in a law that prevents school districts from charging transfer students public school tuition or any other fees associated with the transfer.
This is a major victory for the 87,000 students in Indiana who use open enrollment or some other transfer mechanism to attend a public school other than their residential assignment.
This reform was long overdue, ever since Indiana constitution ensures that public schools are open to all students. However, in practice, school districts could close the door to transferring students who cannot pay the price of admission.
Indiana’s new law ensures that school districts cannot use open enrollment to sell seats, making Indiana the 26th state where public schools are free for all students. Politicians in the remaining 24 states should follow suit and ensure that public education is not free in name only.