It is understandable why Hollister School District officials are
anxious to limit the number of students transferring to other
jurisdictions each year, but the manner in which they have started
the process leaves more questions than answers and keeps a slew of
local families in a state of uncertainty.
It is understandable why Hollister School District officials are anxious to limit the number of students transferring to other jurisdictions each year, but the manner in which they have started the process leaves more questions than answers and keeps a slew of local families in a state of uncertainty.
Considering that 600 students and about 10 percent of families in the 5,500-student Hollister School District use the transfer loophole to enroll in other, often higher-performing districts – such as Southside and North County – something must be done to sustain long-term health for education in this community. Officials must find a way to reverse the trend, or else the state’s financial formula – which bases districts’ allocations on average daily attendance numbers – will doom the Hollister district’s prospects for an academic turnaround.
As it stands, implementing the new rules eventually should add anywhere from $1.5 million to $3 million into the Hollister district’s coffers. In other words, the move is all about the money.
You can’t blame those transferring families for seeking the best education possible, or what they perceive as such, so it is concerning that the Hollister district has yet to clearly state its plans for implementation. In doing so district officials have, in fact, left open the absurd possibility that families currently enrolled in other districts, through seventh grade, will not be exempt from the new policy.
Those families deserve the courtesy to stay at their current schools – as do surrounding districts that have taken in increasing numbers of Hollister kids. Forty-two percent of the students at Spring Grove, for example, live in other districts and use the interdistrict transfer option. Imagine the chaos in trying to plan for next school year if you are those other districts. They will have to eliminate personnel, including teachers, and restructure operations across the board. The students would not only lose teachers, but they would lose a mass of friends, too. They would lose a culture. That deserves an adjustment period.
Trustees approved the new set of rules in mid-February as a broad-sweeping response to poor management that occurred at the Hollister district for many years. Former Superintendent Ron Crates apparently gave away transfers as if they were lollipops, or entitlements. Everyone moves into or resides in a district knowing that is where their kids are entitled to attend schools. San Benito County happens to maintain 11 districts – consolidation deserves a serious look now more than ever – and that lends itself to encouraging this transfer pinball of sorts.
By following a loosely defined interdistrict transfer policy in past years, Hollister district officials used what amounts to zero discretion in deciding who is actually eligible, or who should be, to leave the district. The Hollister district dropped itself into a huge hole, and now it wants the surrounding districts to pay the price. That is unfair to those districts and it is unfair to the affected families.
Hollister trustees should take up the matter as soon as possible to curtail the anxiety felt throughout the county. They should exempt all students currently enrolled in other districts, while implementing the policy in phases.
