QUOTE
9/2/2008 4:33:00 PM
Property tax changes to eliminate transfer tuition
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's public schools next year will largely no longer be able to charge tuition to transfer students who live in other districts.
Schools have charged the parents of such students as much as $5,000 a year, but an unintended consequence of the state's new property tax law has some worried about schools being tempted to recruit top students or athletes.
Schools have long charged parents to recoup the difference between what the state paid to teach their child and what local taxpayers contributed. But next year, the state will start paying the entire operating budgets for schools as a way to reduce property taxes.
Unless the Legislature steps in, however, school districts have discretion to decide which transfer students to accept - including whether to enroll any at all.That raises questions about how schools can be fair in accepting students without crowding or drawing lawsuits claiming poor or minority students had been excluded.
"There's going to be a lot of gray areas," Terry Spradlin, a researcher at Indiana University who tracks state education issues, told The Indianapolis Star. "There could be chaos."
Senate Tax Committee Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he expected the Legislature to take a serious look at the issue.
It's not fair, he said, to foist such a major change on schools from an accidental change in the law. But he hopes that legislators allow as much school choice as possible.
"The more important concept is parents have a choice, and then they have a greater commitment to that whole exercise because they've made a choice," Kenley said. "It would be so good for the public schools and the parents and the kids. It's the right thing to do."
The scenarios school districts could face include a middle-school basketball standout wanting to pick his own high school team and schools seeking to boost their scores on state tests by recruiting smart students from nearby districts.
The tuition requirement has helped prevent athletic recruiting by high schools, said Blake Ress, commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, which bars athletes from playing for a year after a transfer unless both schools agree it's not for athletic reasons
Ress said he expected at least some parents or coaches will try to take advantage of the new tuition rules.
"They'll go play for some AAU team in the summer, and they'll like the other kids and they'll like the other coach," he said. "Then all of a sudden they decide let's just go to the same school Sally goes to. It makes our job a little more difficult."
Property tax changes to eliminate transfer tuition
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's public schools next year will largely no longer be able to charge tuition to transfer students who live in other districts.
Schools have charged the parents of such students as much as $5,000 a year, but an unintended consequence of the state's new property tax law has some worried about schools being tempted to recruit top students or athletes.
Schools have long charged parents to recoup the difference between what the state paid to teach their child and what local taxpayers contributed. But next year, the state will start paying the entire operating budgets for schools as a way to reduce property taxes.
Unless the Legislature steps in, however, school districts have discretion to decide which transfer students to accept - including whether to enroll any at all.That raises questions about how schools can be fair in accepting students without crowding or drawing lawsuits claiming poor or minority students had been excluded.
"There's going to be a lot of gray areas," Terry Spradlin, a researcher at Indiana University who tracks state education issues, told The Indianapolis Star. "There could be chaos."
Senate Tax Committee Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he expected the Legislature to take a serious look at the issue.
It's not fair, he said, to foist such a major change on schools from an accidental change in the law. But he hopes that legislators allow as much school choice as possible.
"The more important concept is parents have a choice, and then they have a greater commitment to that whole exercise because they've made a choice," Kenley said. "It would be so good for the public schools and the parents and the kids. It's the right thing to do."
The scenarios school districts could face include a middle-school basketball standout wanting to pick his own high school team and schools seeking to boost their scores on state tests by recruiting smart students from nearby districts.
The tuition requirement has helped prevent athletic recruiting by high schools, said Blake Ress, commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, which bars athletes from playing for a year after a transfer unless both schools agree it's not for athletic reasons
Ress said he expected at least some parents or coaches will try to take advantage of the new tuition rules.
"They'll go play for some AAU team in the summer, and they'll like the other kids and they'll like the other coach," he said. "Then all of a sudden they decide let's just go to the same school Sally goes to. It makes our job a little more difficult."