The Putnam County Board of Education advanced a new policy Tuesday night that would allow students living outside the county to enroll by paying an annual tuition fee.
Board Member Kim Cravens said the proposal establishes a formal process for enrollment provided they meet specific standards. Cravens said the district is modeling its approach after several other school systems across the state that already charge tuition for out-of-county residents.
“We are looking at putting in a non-resident student policy and charging a tuition to anyone who doesn’t reside in Putnam County if they would like to come to school here,” Cravens said. “So we’re working on the policy for that and there will be an application that they will have to fill out, and standards that students will have to follow.”
School Board Member Lynn McHenry said the $3995 tuition rate represents the maximum amount allowed by state statute, calculated by dividing local tax revenues by the district’s average daily membership.
McHenry said the fee is intended to ensure that local taxpayers are not subsidizing the education of students who live outside the county.
“I don’t think it’s right for our county taxpayers to have to pay for the out-of-county students to come to our schools,” McHenry said. “That’s where this comes from.”
The board is considering the change now because a recent dip in enrollment has created available space in several school buildings. McHenry said the policy would be reviewed annually, and non-resident students would not be grandfathered in if local enrollment increases and the space is needed for Putnam County residents.
“This is not going to grandfather them in long term,” McHenry said. “This is a year-by-year, case-by-case basis.”
McHenry said the enrollment decisions would be based strictly on academic standing rather than athletic or extracurricular interests. McHenry said the policy is not intended to serve as a recruitment tool for sports teams.
“The idea is not to have a tuition so that somebody can come and play a sport here,” McHenry said. “That’s not the case. It’s about being able to come here based on their academics.”
Under the proposed guidelines, out-of-county students would be classified as “priority five,” meaning they would only be accepted after all in-county students have been placed. Lynn said that if a specific school reaches capacity with local residents, no out-of-county applications would be approved for that location.
“An out-of-county student will not take precedence over an in-county student,” Lynn said. “So, if a particular school is full, that may be where the parent wants to go, but if one of our county students can’t get in because that school’s full, we wouldn’t accept an out-of-county student in that particular school.”
The board discussed requiring a complete application, including discipline and attendance records, at least two weeks before the start of the school year to allow for proper vetting. Cravens said she wants the standards for external students to be rigorous to ensure those accepted have earned their spot.
“Personally I think every student is going to get enrollment based on their merits not whether they got a brother or sister because these guidelines are a lot stricter than somebody who actually lives in the county,” Cravens said. “If they’ve had a discipline issue before, we reserve the right to say no you’re not coming here.”
