To read the full statement released by the Knox County Schools click here.
A vote by Knox County Board of Education members to end an agreement that allows students in the district to attend Corbin schools, and vice versa, without paying tuition has sent shockwave of concern among parents and school leaders.
According to Knox County Board of Education member Sam Watts, the five-member board voted unanimously during a special meeting Monday to end the year’s-long arrangement with the Corbin’s schools — a move many had not anticipated. Watts, who represents voters in the Second District, made up primarily of Artemus and Poplar Creek, said the decision was a monetary one.
“We already had to close one school down for lack of students,” Watts said. “We had 169 going to Corbin. We need to keep all the kids we can in Knox County because we are the Knox County School System.”
The arrangement is often called a “non-resident contract’ or “reciprocal agreement,” whereby school districts agree that students that live in one district may attend another at no cost. But state funding for the student attending that other school goes with them, an issue that seems the main motivation for the change.
Knox Schools officials estimate that the students lost to Corbin represented about $530,000 in what is called SEEK funding (Support Educational Excellence in Kentucky) annually. School districts are guaranteed at least $3,866 per year for each student in state funding. The Knox County Board of Education has been forwarding about $653,354 annually to Corbin and getting only around $123,712 in return.
“We had to start making changes somewhere, so that’s what we have done,” said Walter T. Hulett, Superintendent of the Knox County School System, in a prepared statement released Friday. “Corbin is offering a lot of extra programs with the additional money they’re getting from the Knox County Board of Education, while we have to reduce programs and not offer the same services we think would be as equally beneficial to our students.”
Kentucky public schools are funded by property taxes (both on land and things like automobiles and watercraft) and through a SEEK formula that is adjusted periodically.
According to Mark Daniels, Director of Support Services for the Corbin Independent School District, only 32 students that live in Corbin’s district go to Knox County Schools.
That imbalance can mostly be attributed, Corbin School officials say, to the comparative quality of education provided in the two districts.
According to federal No Child Left Behind reports, Corbin schools are typically ranked highly with vast numbers of students showing proficiency in reading and math skills. Individual schools, as well as the district as a whole, are among the state’s best.
Knox County Schools are at the opposite end of the spectrum, consistently ranked among Kentucky’s worst.
Based on 2009 NCLB reports, four of the districts schools are currently facing “consequences” for failing to make adequate yearly progress in the education of their students. Lynn Camp High School is in “Tier 1” consequences and Knox Central High School is in “Tier 2” consequences. Tier 1 means the school has failed to make AYP for two straight years and must notify parents of the deficiency, implement a school choice plan and revise its school improvement plan. Tier 2 includes all the same consequences, but the school must also provide supplemental services to help struggling students.
Corbin School Superintendent Ed McNeel said he has not been officially notified of the Knox County School Board’s decision to sever ties when it comes to the reciprocal agreement and does not know yet what kind of impact it will have on the school district.
“It’s kind of bad for students that have been in the district for many years and then all of the sudden you are told you can’t go there anymore,” McNeel said.
During Thursday’s regular monthly meeting of the Corbin Board of Education, board members expressed concern over the decision. Board member Kim Croley encouraged citizens in Knox County who disagreed to call their respective school board members.
“It’s a huge issue,” she said.
Larry Dickerson, the father of two children who attend Corbin Schools, said the decision would impact his family negatively. His kids, seven and 10-years-old respectively, attend Corbin Primary and Corbin Intermediate Schools. Dickerson said he actually lives in Laurel County, but went to court to have “educational guardianship” of his children legally transferred to his in-laws. They are now responsible for the education of the children. He did this, he said, because his in-laws live in Knox County, which allows him to send his children to Corbin Schools under the current reciprocal agreement. That agreement runs out July 1.
“What do we need to do?” Dickerson asked the board. “I’m here to find out if you can lead me in the right direction. It’s not fair to the students.”
Another parent, who lives in Knox County School System but whose child attends Corbin Schools, criticized the decision.
“I will bring my daughter to Corbin city schools no matter what they do because it is a much better school system,” she said. “People have built their homes in Knox County because they thought they had the right to send their child where they wanted. People have brand new houses, built in the last few years and they don’t know what to do. It is very stressful. I think they are just thinking about the bottom line and not the children.”
According to the Knox County Board of Education Statement, there is no “grandfather clause” for students who live in the Knox School District but who attend Corbin.
“The board looked at setting caps on student numbers,” said Knox County School Superintendent Walter T. Hulett. “It also looked at grandfathering children in, or grandfathering certain children in, but decided this would involve a 12-year plan. So in the end, the board said it may be simpler, though not pleasant, to go ahead and end it all together.”
Daniels said students from outside the district could attend Corbin next school year by paying a $1,200 tuition fee. SEEK money for students who chose this option is not awarded to either school district, instead being retained by the state.
McNeel said as a matter of policy, the Corbin Independent Schools allow students that reside in its district to go to any other school of their choice and agrees to forward SEEK money to that school.
“It is the philosophy of the Corbin School System that parents should be able to let their kids go to any school they want to,” McNeel said. “We believe parents should be happy with the school where their children are educated.”
The Knox County Schools approved reciprocal agreements with Barbourville, Clay, Middlesboro, Pineville, Williamsburg and Whitley County school districts. An agreement with Laurel County is on a “two-year approval schedule.”
Hulett said Knox County Schools have been in a “financial crisis” the last few years, forced to lay off 30 certified staff members and approximately 15 classified staff. The district has also closed one school and sold two buildings meet budget demands.
“We’ve done all that we can to try to keep things floating."
