Indiana schools reject needy students, educators say

INDIANAPOLIS — Some Indiana public schools are accepting only the brightest transfer applicants and are rejecting children with special needs or histories of disciplinary problems, educators and students told state lawmakers.

Many school districts have transfer standards, such as requiring applicants to pass the ISTEP-Plus test and to meet a minimum grade-point average, several people told a legislative education commission Monday.

For years, there has been resentment over private schools being able to selectively choose students. Now the debate has entered into public schools, The Journal Gazette reported Tuesday (http://bit.ly/MfQjI6 ).

“In this case school choice is only available to choice students,” said Dawn McGrath, a school administrator in Kokomo. “It’s the way in which students are chosen that makes this different.”

Lawmakers on the committee appeared to agree Monday that local districts should have the power to decide whether to accept transfer students, a decision that’s driven in part by whether a district has available space for students.

But several lawmakers said that once a district opens its enrollment for transfers the process should be equitable, either through a lottery system or by filling slots on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“No school taking public tax dollars should be able to pick and choose,” said state Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City.

During the 2010-2011 school year, 12,000 students attended Indiana public schools other than the one nearest where they were living. The practice has exploded in recent years, and is directly related to the state taking over operating costs for schools in 2009.

Because local property taxes no longer finance schools’ general funds, state money can follow the student. Many Indiana schools now have tuition-free transfer policies as long as the students are enrolled on count day in September.

The state uses the enrollment number from count day to calculate funding for districts.

The allegations that some public schools are choosing only to accept transfers of the best kids come a few years into the burgeoning phenomenon of public school transfers.

Katie Skeen, an 18-year-old from Anderson, told lawmakers that when she and her brother applied for transfers to South Madison Community Schools in 2010 they were required to submit transcripts and disciplinary records and write essays.

Sheen said the district initially accepted her but not her brother because his academic record wasn’t as strong as hers. After pleading with the school to reconsider, her brother was admitted, she said.

Skeen later transferred back to Anderson, where she proudly said her school accepts all students.

Rick Muir, president of the Indiana Federation of Teachers, said the schools’ cherry-picking encourages and enables segregation, as some districts won’t take children who aren’t fluent in English or have disabilities.

He believes the policy is widening the gap between the “haves and the have-nots,” and that if legislators ban such criteria, “they won’t take any if they have to take all.”

The legislative panel is considering a number of issues for possible 2013 legislation. A final report will come later this year.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net