Open enrollment & charters....someone really opened the can of worms, didn't they?

Chester likes it, doesn't he? So do the school privatizers, don't they?

"For example, Chester E. Finn Jr., an education professor and author of several books on school choice, wrote in 1990, "Any principal or superintendent worth his or her salt will be influenced by the 'management information' yielded by marketplace preferences ... and will do something about the situation."

Open enrollment carries wide local impact

SalemNews.net, February 10, 2008
By LEONARD GLENN CRIST, Salem News staff writer
Part One of a Series

Columbiana Superintendent Ron Iarussi admits to mixed feelings about open enrollment, a school choice option first implemented across Ohio 15 years ago this fall.

On one hand, Iarussi feels bad for nearby districts like Salem, East Liverpool and Youngstown that lose students and money to schools with better reputations, real or perceived.

"The people that are getting hurt are the kids in that district," he says.

However, because of across-the-board declines in overall enrollment throughout the Mahoning Valley, many area school districts, including his, depend on the state money open enrollment students bring with them. The money, more than $5,500 for every entering student, helps districts maintain diverse academic programs that might otherwise be cut when enrollment drops.

"School districts need it to survive," Iarussi says. "It's almost like a necessary evil."

Over a period of two months, the Salem News surveyed 10 area schools that offer open enrollment — Beaver, Columbiana, Crestview, East Palestine, Leetonia, Lisbon, Salem, Sebring, United and West Branch — studied Ohio Department of Education data and interviewed school officials, parents and state politicians.

The data shows that there are distinct winners and losers when it comes to open enrollment, and not always because one school is academically better than the other.

The biggest winner locally is Crestview. This school year, Crestview received almost $783,000 in open enrollment funds. An influx of students has helped that school improve the diversity of its academic offerings.

Other big winners include West Branch and Lisbon.

Salem is by far the biggest loser, with nearly $429,000 removed from its coffers due to an exodus of students. When you factor in money transferred to charter schools, Salem's losses total nearly $1 million. This has led to some belt tightening at Salem schools, with fewer teachers, larger class sizes and a reduction in certain course offerings.

Despite significant losses due to school choice, Lou Ramunno, Salem's interim superintendent, is not apt to complain about the system.

"We live in different times," Ramunno says. "This is a direct result of what the legislature wanted to do years ago. The legislature wanted to have choice for parents. They wanted parents, if they weren't happy with the school district, to move into another school district very easily and very transparently."

Instead of criticizing others, Ramunno says he'd rather improve his district so students won't want to leave. He doesn't have an easy job ahead of him.

As competition among schools has increased, city schools like Salem have seen open enrollment losses accelerate. Just six years ago, Salem's open enrollment and charter school losses totaled only $138,000. Adding insult to injury, schools in Ohio suffer a disproportional financial hit if they lose more students than they bring in.

"The open enrollment program needs to be refined financially," Ramunno says. "It really penalizes a school district."

This year, the state share of education is about $5,500 per student. Most schools, however, don't receive $5,500 for every student. A complex formula factors in a district's wealth to determine how much of that $5,500 will actually be given to a school. In general, poor districts receive more money than rich ones. But if a student leaves a school district through open enrollment, the entire $5,500 state share goes with that student to the new school.

For example, a student who lives in the Salem City School District and attends Salem schools earns the district about $2,300 in state funds. But when that same student leaves Salem and transfers to West Branch through open enrollment, $5,500 is taken from Salem and given to West Branch. Essentially, open enrollment students are more financially valuable to districts than native students.

Iarussi agrees the way Ohio funds open enrollment is unfair. He believes if a school gets $2,300 per student as its state share of education, $2,300 should be the amount that follows a transferring student.

"Unfortunately there's not a lot that we can do about it right now," Iarusi says. "Until we change the way schools are funded, we're kind of stuck with this."

Ohio began dismantling the barriers between public school districts nearly 15 years ago.

Under the interdistrict open enrollment law that went into effect in the fall of 1993, students for the first time could leave their home district and attend school somewhere else, tuition free. Districts were able to decide whether they would allow outside students to enter, but they could no longer stop their own students from leaving.

Under the new law, students who defected to neighboring schools would take their share of state money with them. In essence, good schools would be rewarded and not-so-good schools would have to shape up. If schools were free to compete for students and funding, proponents argued, overall education would improve.

For example, Chester E. Finn Jr., an education professor and author of several books on school choice, wrote in 1990, "Any principal or superintendent worth his or her salt will be influenced by the 'management information' yielded by marketplace preferences ... and will do something about the situation."

In a study of the first full year of open enrollment in Ohio, Frances C. Fowler, an education professor at Ohio's Miami University, cited Finn's statement before writing that political leaders were swept up in the "rhetoric of market competition" and did not let "philosophical considerations slow their choice agendas."

Though a relatively small number of districts participated in open enrollment that first year, Fowler found most open enrollment transfers unrelated to academic quality. Instead, "geographic proximity" was the most commonly cited reason, with the vague "school environment" a distant second.

Fifteen years later, school officials still cite the convenience of geographic proximity among the most common reasons students transfer. None of the school officials surveyed named academics as the number one reason for open enrollment transfers.

Tom Davis, superintendent at United, feels the primary reason students come to his district from others is physical proximity. A student may live just over the border and may be closer to United than their native district, he says. At Columbiana, Iarusi says parents who physically move from one district to another often want to keep their kids enrolled in their previous school for reasons of continuity. West Branch Superintendent Scott Weingart cites a combination of proximity and continuity for students who have moved.

At Crestview, which has the area's most popular open enrollment program, Superintendent John Dilling says there are a number of reasons students transfer to his district, first and foremost among them is a "feeling of family."

Six years ago, Crestview began offering open enrollment into its school.

"Our resident enrollment was declining and we were facing cuts," Dilling says. "When we started, this is the joke, I said, 'In our first year, if we just get back what we lose.' Well our treasurer said, 'We're gonna get more than that.' I said, 'No we're not.' We got almost double what we thought we would. And it has continued to grow every year."

In fact, Crestview's treasurer, Charlene Mercure, who lives in the South Range district, sends her own children to Crestview through open enrollment. For Mercure, it's a matter of convenience. She drives to Crestview for work everyday. Bringing her kids with her makes sense.

Crestview's enrollment gains have allowed the district to offer a wider variety of courses than a rural school of its size might ordinarily be able to offer, Dilling says.

"I've got to believe that [Crestview] would be in financial straits without those children," Columbiana's Iarussi says. "Now, obviously, with [more] kids you have to bring in additional staff and things like that. But I've got to believe they're probably still in the black when it comes to the revenue they receive from open enrollment as opposed to the cost."

Indeed, Crestview's general fund revenue, which includes open enrollment dollars, exceeded expenses last year by only $18,000. Without the open enrollment cash coming in, the district would have to make cuts somewhere.

Because they receive so few, Columbiana is less reliant on open enrollment dollars. Still, the district needs students coming in to counteract the students leaving.

Open enrollment has become necessary for the financial survival of some schools.

"I think the state has created a monster," Iarussi says.

— Monday: Despite a higher district report card rating, Columbiana is losing students to nearby Crestview. Tuesday: Better marketing and a good public image may help schools increase enrollment numbers. Wednesday: The Buckeye Online School for Success is growing by leaps and bounds, but many traditional school officials feel that and other charter schools are hurting public education. Thursday: City districts, like Salem, struggle to keep students, while rural districts, like West Branch, are the direct beneficiaries of enrollment defections.

Leonard Glenn Crist can be reached at lcrist@salemnews.net

OPEN ENROLLMENT... FACTS AND FIGURES:

What is it?

Ohio’s interdistrict open enrollment law forbids schools from stopping their students from leaving for another district. School boards are free to choose whether or not their district is open or closed to outside students. Districts that choose open enrollment can either pick enrollment only from adjacent districts or enrollment from anywhere in the state.

How many districts participate?

Of Ohio’s 662 school districts, 489 offer open enrollment. In Columbiana County, every school district offers open enrollment. In southern Mahoning County, South Range, Canfield, Poland, and Springfield do not offer open enrollment; Sebring, West Branch and Western Reserve offer open enrollment.

How is it funded?

Students who move from one district to another take with them the state share of education, this year about $5,500.

What other school choice options exist?

In some larger districts with more than one high school or elementary school, intradistrict open enrollment exists, where students can transfer within a district to a school of their choice. Additionally, students can enroll free of charge into community (charter) schools and magnet schools. Grants are also available for parents wishing to enroll their children in private schools.