School Choice accounts for a third of district growth
State legislation approved in 1995, allowing students to attend schools outside of the area in which they live, has been responsible for roughly a third of the Indian River School District’s population growth in the last decade.
School Choice
346: Out-of-district residents in Indian River schools
132: Cape Henlopen district residents in Indian River schools
71: Laurel district residents in Indian River schools
60: Seaford district residents in Indian River schools
41: Woodbridge district residents in Indian River schools
34: Milford district residents in Indian River schools
96: Out-of-district residents enrolled in Southern Delaware School of the Arts
1: Appoquinimink and Capital district residents in Indian River schools
111: Indian River residents attending other schools in 2005
69: Indian River residents in Cape schools in 2005
Sources: 2007 Indian River School District statistics; 2005 Delaware Department of Education statistics
More than 300 students from outside the district currently attend Indian River schools for convenience and arts opportunities, among other reasons, officials said recently.
“One draw we have is the School of the Arts,” said Dr. Susan Bunting, Indian River superintendent. “Some people come here because there is a convenience of child care. (But) I think we’ve developed a reputation for quality academic program. People tend to be drawn to IRSD because of the rep.”
School-choice legislation allows students — or more likely their parents — to decide what schools they attend, even if they live outside of the chosen district. Government funding follows those students, but their families do not pay tax increases approved through district referendums. In other words; although students from outside of the Indian River district impact its population, helping exceed capacity, their families do not help build additional classrooms to offset that impact.
Indian River residents have approved three tax increases in the last decade, partly to help initiate nearly $90 million in construction and renovation projects. Bunting said parents of out-of-district students still pay tax increases in their home district, adding that educators “accept the law as it is.”
“That’s the way the law is set up,” Bunting said. “It could be that (students are) sometimes denied the opportunity to come here because we don’t have the capacity.”
The numbers
The 346 Indian River students currently living outside the district — enough to fill at least 11 classrooms — account for roughly one-third of the district’s population growth since the 1995-96 school year, the year before Delaware enacted the “school-choice” legislation.
In that time, the district’s population has grown by 1,065 students enrolled, from 7,073 in 1995 to 8,138 students in 2006. Some 111 Indian River students, however, had left the district, according to a Sept. 30, 2005, unit count in the 19 Delaware school districts — the most recent statewide information.
According to those numbers, recorded last year, Indian River is one of three county schools that have taken in more students through the 1995 legislation than it has sent away. But the statistics differ dramatically. Delmar School District had only received — as of last year’s unit count — 18 more students than have left since 1996 and Milford just 75.
It is important to note that Indian River’s Southern Delaware School of the Arts has received 96 of the district’s out-of-district school-choicers. That school will, however, receive renovations using local tax dollars already committed through referendum. The project is expected to begin sometime this year.
District by district
Cape Henlopen School District has, by far, unloaded more students on Indian River than any other district in the state. According to current-year numbers recently compiled by Indian River’s Supervisor of Secondary Instruction Joseph Headman, 132 Cape Henlopen district residents currently attend Indian River Schools. Some 71 Laurel, 60 Seaford, 41 Woodbridge and 34 Milford students did the same as of last year’s statistics.
Cape Superintendent Dr. George Stone said that, because many Indian River and Cape schools neighbor each other, students usually attend the other school as “a matter convenience.”
“Some of our kids live closer to an IR school than Cape,” Stone said. He also cited Indian River’s Southern Delaware School of the Arts as a “draw.”
“That is … something they can’t get here,” Stone said.
According to the Sept. 30, 2005, unit count, Indian River sent 69 students to Cape Henlopen. Only 31 left Indian River’s district to the other four aforementioned districts combined, the 2005 numbers showed.
Bunting agreed with Stone that the proximity of schools such as Sussex Central and Cape Henlopen high schools is a likely reason for the high numbers in Cape and Indian River transfers. Some also believe that testing scores, sports and other factors might be draws for students switching from one school to another.
Read next week’s Coastal Point for a story examining other reasons why out-of-district students attend Indian River schools.
Read next week’s Coastal Point for a story examining reasons why out-of-district students attend Indian River schools.