The Lawrence school district will have approximately 100 spots available for students transferring from outside the district, and it will lower its student-to-teacher classroom ratios for the 2024-25 school year.
During a special meeting Tuesday, Lawrence school board members unanimously approved classroom ratios as well as enrollment capacities and projections for next year.
In alignment with Kansas’ new open enrollment policy, school districts on or before Wednesday must post to their websites the number of open seats available in each grade at each building. Tuesday’s special meeting was called to address the requirement.
Some other districts in the state such as Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission and Wichita had already declared their availability.
Hillcrest, Prairie Park, Quail Run and Woodlawn elementary schools; Billy Mills and Liberty Memorial Central middle schools; and both high schools will have varied openings for students outside the district to transfer in, depending on grade levels and depending on the full-time teachers that’ll be staffed.
Capacity numbers were calculated by comparing projected enrollment numbers to full-time equivalent (FTE) assignments at each building.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the numbers we were allowed to offer, and I felt like and I still feel good about it being a conservative number that we’re not going to get our buildings into trouble, but it gives us an opportunity to see, you know, what kind of students would be interested in coming in,” said Ron May, director of human resources and safety.
Among those four elementary schools, 10 first grade seats, nine second grade seats, two third grade seats, four fourth grade seats and five fifth grade seats will be open.
No kindergarten spots will be available to non-district transfers to account for the families who don’t go through the district’s pre-enrollment for kindergarten but want to get enrolled the first week of school, which often happens, according to May.
Board Past President Shannon Kimball said FTE will follow students transferring from other districts to Lawrence, rather than the Lawrence school district pulling from its own FTE.
“If a family was considering coming to Lawrence, we really are incentivized because that money is coming with us,” Board President Kelly Jones said.
Schools with no open seats available for transfers next year include Cordley, Deerfield, Langston Hughes, New York, Schwegler and Sunset Hill elementary schools in addition to West and Southwest middle schools.
With 540 students estimated to attend there next year, Langston Hughes has the highest projected enrollment of elementary schools — and all schools — in the district.
In addition to availability for non-district transfers, the district has also factored in an additional 100 open spots for students living within the district, according to May.
The district will use a student-to-teacher ratio of 24 to 1 for elementary school classrooms; 21 or 22 to 1 for middle school classrooms; and 24 to 1 for high school classrooms. Middle schools will need some flexibility to account for additional teacher planning time and the STEAM school.
That’s opposed to this year’s ratios, which are 25 to 1 for kindergarten through third grade classes; 30 to 1 for fourth and fifth grade classes; 25 to 1 for middle school classes; and 25 to 1 for high school classes.
Kristen Ryan, executive director of human resources, clarified that ratios don’t equate to class sizes. She said some class sizes might go over those numbers, and teachers may have multigrade classes.
“It is the resources allocated to the building,” Ryan said, referring to the ratio.
Beginning Wednesday, students living outside the district will be able to review the district’s availability on its website and then fill out a transfer request form.
Projected enrollment at each school next year, a breakdown of open seats available to non-district transfers, and additional information can be viewed on Tuesday’s meeting agenda item on BoardDocs.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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