Lakota Schools to end open enrollment for some students
LIBERTY, WEST CHESTER TWPS. – The growing pains of southwest Ohio’s largest suburban school system are prompting district officials to soon end its years-long practice of open enrollment for some grades.
Lakota Schools’ more than 18,000 enrollment is projected to continue to grow according to district studies of recent years and officials have repeatedly expressed concerns about overcrowding in elementary grades.
To help combat the problem, Lakota officials recently announced that starting next school year parents who reside outside the district’s boundaries of Liberty and West Chester townships will no longer be able be able to send their kindergarten and grade school children to Lakota via its previous open-enrollment policy.
In a letter to school families currently using the open enrollment option, Pamela Zeigler, director of EMIS & student data compliance & accountability, wrote: “Due to our continued growing enrollment in our K-6 buildings, and the need to continue with a Lakota master facilities plan, we will no longer be offering open enrollment for any non-employee students in grades K-6.”
“Our K-6 classroom spaces are reaching capacity, and it is our responsibility to our resident taxpayers to ensure that their students can attend their assigned school,” said Zeigler.
Open enrollment policies of Ohio’s public school systems are locally determined by those districts’ governing school boards. Some Ohio districts allow for some or all students whose families live outside a school district to enroll and attend school while others do not.
Zeigler said “Lakota is no longer in the same position financially and capacity-wise as it was in 2014 when the rules for (open enrollment) … were modified to allow students to remain registered as inter-district open enrollment students.”
“Since 2013, our enrollment has already surpassed the estimates of a 10-year enrollment study, with an increase of nearly 900 students in grades K-6 since 2018 alone.”
“As a result, effective May 24, 2024, all open enrolled non-employee students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade will be withdrawn from Lakota Local School District.”
Also impacted, said Lakota officials, are current students in grades K-12 who move out of the school system as they will no longer be allowed to remain enrolled in the district as in past years.
Not affected are current, open-enrolled students in grades 7-12, said officials.