School board reassignment policy sparks public debate
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

The Watauga County Board of Education gathered Monday, Oct. 29, to hold a work session to discuss changes to the board’s student reassignment policy.

In a previous interview Marshall Gasperson, director of vocations and student services for Watauga County Schools, said the board initiated changing the policy, commissioning him to form a small committee.

All student reassignments, within the county and for students from other counties, must be first approved by the board. Gasperson said the board found that the existing policy left them with many cases for reassignment that were hard to decide.

As the board reviewed the policy the board and the public recognized a discrepancy between the reassignment policy and an existing tuition policy, which was established in 2004 but has not been enforced.

Ashe and Avery counties do not charge tuition to out-of-county students and there had been a “unwritten gentleman’s agreement” that children from one of those counties could attend a school in one of the other counties. The three school systems had been equal in size when that agreement had been established many years ago. Since then, Watauga has surpassed Ashe and Avery in growth and the agreement is proving to be a problem.

The tuition policy states that students domiciled outside of Watauga County who attend schools within this county must pay a tuition equivalent to the amount of county money that is spent on each student.

Currently the school system spends about $2,300 of money that the county provides on each student. The system also receives a state refund of about $5,500 per student each year. Board member Ron Henries reported that 51.69 percent of the money the school system receives from the county comes from property taxes, the rest coming from sources such as sales tax, and 24 percent of the county’s overall budget goes toward education.

It is estimated that about $250,000 of the school system’s annual budget is used to educate students from other counties.

At the suggestion of board chair Lowell Younce, the board changed the format of its usual work session itinerary and heard public comment before beginning its own discussion.

The board heard comments from members of the public who were both for and against the institution of a tuition for out-of-county students.

Ken Sevensky, a resident of Ashe County whose daughter attends Parkway School, spoke in opposition of the tuition. He said his family commutes to Watauga County for work, church and other community activities. He said that this county is not only where his daughter attends school, but where she participates in social activities. He pointed out that though his family does not pay Watauga County property tax, they do contribute to the local economy through the sales tax on purchases made in the county.

Donna Harmon, a Watauga County resident, said she was concerned about the welfare of students who might be displaced by this policy. She emphasized the importance of thinking of the well-being of the children in Watauga County schools over the amount of money spent.

Several who spoke against the tuition policy mentioned Bethel School where low class numbers make the school able to accommodate students from other districts.

The majority of those community members who addressed the board were in favor of instituting a tuition. Several who spoke, such as Ivan Roten, a Watauga County resident, noted that the assignment policy should be consistent with the existing tuition policy.

Alice Neff, also a resident of Watauga County, said she was sympathetic to families who wanted their children to attend Watauga schools, “ but I would like us to remember that they do have schools of their own.” She said she realizes that the enforcement of a tuition would mean a big adjustment for some families and she understood the need for a grandfathering clause.

Other county residents, such as Greg Williams and Rob Holton said they would like to see the money spent on programs benefiting the children of Watauga County rather than on educating students from other counties. “I am concerned that we don’t have programs that we all would like to have, and the reason is a lack of funds,” Mike Roberts said.

Younce assured those in attendance that the board would work to make a decision with the best interest of the children in mind. He and the other board members said that compromises would have to be made in the development of the policy.

“We want to be fair to every child and to everyone concerned,” Younce said. “[The issue of tuition] is a big challenge right now, more so than we first probably thought.”

Henries said the policy needs to be developed so that decisions about all transfers can be made based on fair guidelines. He said the board needs to define those guidelines, decide when transfers can be requested and if those transfers can be rescinded at a later time.

In terms of tuition, Henries said the board needs to decide if the school system should charge tuition to certain students, how much they will charge, who will be charged and who will collect the tuition. He said they will also need to make decisions about a grandfather clause, which would allow students from other counties currently attending Watauga County schools to continue attending free of charge for a yet to be determined period of time.

The board discussed sections of the reassignment policy and suggested changes to sections of the policy having to do with transfers within the county. They tabled the issue of tuition until those changes could be fleshed out and allowing time for school principals and the committee working on the policy to meet. It is likely that the board will not meet to discuss tuition changes until after their next monthly board meeting on Nov. 19.