Policy committee seeks to align class-size rule with open-enrollment policy

Lakeland School District policy committee members on Sept. 15, 2025, discussed edits to class-size policy 2240 and the district’s open-enrollment policy 3010 to remove conflicting language about when a student transfer can be deemed a “hardship.” Committee members said the district should continue to “strive for” the class-size thresholds referenced in IDAPA and the Idaho Department of Education guidance but avoid language in the open-enrollment policy that would automatically deny transfers by calling any enrollment above a threshold a hardship. The committee recommended keeping the hardship definition in the class-size policy (2240) rather than repeating or contradicting it in the open-enrollment policy (3010). A committee participant said the board approved increased class-size thresholds in July 2024 and that administrators need clarity about handling open-enrollment requests in years with higher average daily attendance. Members discussed operational scenarios, including when a school hires an additional teacher because district-wide enrollment rose rather than because of open enrollment, and how that can affect available capacity. They agreed that matters such as the need to hire staff, overcrowding, or excessive class size are often interrelated and can make a rigid hardship test impractical. The committee also noted that class sizes are reported to the board four times a year and that the district’s administrative practice must align with adopted policy. The group directed staff to consolidate the language so the policies are consistent and to return a revised draft to the committee after input from district administrators. No formal vote was recorded during the discussion; the outcome was a direction to staff to revise the drafts and coordinate with administrators and the superintendent. The committee planned to submit the cleaned-up draft to the superintendent and then return it to the policy committee for final review before bringing it to the full board.