REGION: Budget woes prompt schools to reconsider transfer rules

Changes could stabilize enrollment, funding

By SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer | Thursday, April 10, 2008 9:34 AM PDT ∞

Randy Wiens and his wife Erica Glennon relax with their daughters, Kylee, 8, right, and Harper, 14, in their home in Oceanside. Although the family lives in Oceanside, the girls transferred to schools in the Vista Unified School District, where their parents work as teachers. (HAYNE PALMOUR IV/Staff photographer):

NORTH COUNTY ---- When Oceanside resident Randy Weins wanted to enroll his daughter in a bilingual school program, he had to look outside of his neighborhood district to find one.

The Vista Unified School District teacher transferred his then-first-grade daughter to Breeze Hill Elementary School in Vista. Now a freshman at Rancho Buena Vista High School, 14-year-old Harper Cleaves is already in one of the most advanced Spanish language courses offered at the school.

"For her it was a real plus," Weins said, noting that the mixture of Spanish and English from a young age has made her fluent in both languages. "It accelerated her and moved her along."

The same policy that allowed Harper to transfer from Oceanside Unified to Vista could now be in jeopardy as districts throughout North County consider tightening their transfer guidelines as a way to keep more of their students in tight budget times.

Higher enrollment means more money because districts receive the majority of their state funding based on the number of students in school each day ---- an average of $5,500 per student.

"(Restricting transfers) is an idea that pops up every so often, and particularly with districts being budget-conscious this year," said Steve Fraire, the coordinator for child welfare and attendance for the San Diego County Office of Education. "If you do restrict transfers, your enrollment will stabilize."

Stable enrollment is especially important today as school districts prepare to cope with $4.4 billion in proposed state education cuts for the 2008-09 school year, which begins in August.

Tighter transfer policies would benefit districts that have been losing more students than they have gained, such as those in Oceanside and Escondido.

But the more restrictive approach could also upset many parents and hurt districts that attract more transfer students than they lose, such as Poway Unified and the San Dieguito Union High School District along the coast.

Of the school districts in North County, only San Marcos Unified has a policy in place that sharply restricts transfers. But polices that would restrict student transfers have been considered in recent months by districts in Oceanside and Escondido.

"I would hate for just financial reasons to block transfers," said Weins, who also has a second-grader on an interdistrict transfer agreement. "But at the same time, districts do have to look at it financially. That's real. Perhaps districts need to look at what it is that is causing the kids to go."

Sharing the burden

Thousands of North County students transfer from one school district to another each year.

In the last five years, for example, districts from Escondido Union High to Oceanside Unified have had anywhere from 300 students to nearly 1,000 students moving in and out of their districts annually.

Families must apply to transfer from their home district each year, and their applications must be approved by their home district and the school they plan to attend.

Most districts will routinely approve transfers when a parent works in another district, when child care is more convenient in another district, when a family is planning to move, when a student is a victim of violent crime in his home district, or when there is a special program or course that is not offered in their home district.

Some parents have even transferred students because they prefer athletic programs elsewhere or because of divorces, when students move with one parent out of an existing district.

But the flow of students between districts in North County has been uneven.

Oceanside Unified School District trustees have been discussing stricter transfer policies this year because of budget cuts and declining enrollment. But after a brief discussion last month, the board decided to stick with its existing policies for 2008-09 and to revisit the issue for the 2009-10 school year.

Other districts, including Escondido Union (elementary) School District, have begun approving new transfer requests on a case-by-case basis, officials said.

"We are looking to see if it would be appropriate for us to say no to transfers," said Oceanside Trustee Roy Youngblood. "If (San Marcos) is saying 'No', maybe we should be saying 'No' also."

The San Marcos policy prohibits students from leaving the district unless they have a parent who works in another district, are finishing up their last year at another high school or middle school, or had a transfer agreement approved before the district changed its policy in 2006.

Costs of leaving

Districts that lose more students to neighboring districts than they receive, such as Oceanside Unified and Escondido's elementary and high school districts, can take a significant hit to their pocketbooks.

For every student who comes to Escondido's elementary and high school districts, about three students are lost, according to reports for the last four years for which data was available. In Oceanside, the district had about 50 more students transfer out than transfer in last year. The year before, twice as many students left Oceanside Unified than joined the district.

That's also the case in Vista Unified and the way it was in San Marcos Unified before it changed its policy.

When each student can bring the district about $5,500, losing students can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"If you are on the wrong side of that, you are losing enrollment and funding," said Bob Clay, the director of pupil services for the Escondido Union High School District. "That's always a concern."

At the same time, Clay added, Escondido's high school district continues to honor transfer agreements because board members want to accommodate families in whatever way they can. They also are one of the few districts in the area that have had enrollment growth, making some campuses overcrowded.

For districts that are on the receiving end of many transfers, a restriction on transfers out of other districts could hurt them. Liberal transfer policies have boosted enrollment in those districts, officials said.

"The transfers are generally in our favor," said Steve Ma, the associate superintendent of business services for San Dieguito Union.

Fifty students transferred out of the district last year, but the district also gained about 400 students from other districts, Ma said. Similarly, Poway Unified accepted about 537 students in 2006-07 and lost only 117 students.

Officials said any policy changes could make things more complicated and confusing for families if some districts become more restrictive and others don't.

"We are telling districts that if you are going to change a policy, publicize it well," said Fraire, the county's attendance coordinator. "The worst thing is when districts don't publicize."

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.

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