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Board debates open-enrollment policy language on racial balance; members split before approval
Summary
Trustees discussed revisions to open-enrollment policy (5113) and related attendance-area language (5120), focusing on a state statute reference about maintaining ''racial balance'; board members asked staff and the district policy vendor for clarification and ultimately approved the policy with recorded votes.
The Troy School District board spent extensive time reviewing proposed changes to the district's open-enrollment policy (5113) and a related attendance-area policy (5120), centering on a state statute that permits districts to consider racial balance when admitting students from other districts.
Board member Missus Davis objected to language in 5113 that references procedures "to ensure that the district maintains an appropriate racial balance" and said she could not vote to approve a policy that, in her reading, would allow denying a child the ability to open-enroll elsewhere based on race. Several board members asked staff to explain the policy's scope and how it interacts with other rules.
District administrators and the board's policy representative, identified in the discussion as the NEOLA attorneys, said the language stems from Ohio statute and is intended to allow districts to refuse incoming students when accepting them would create racially isolated or unbalanced schools. The staff explained that 5113 governs students seeking to enroll into Troy from other districts (interdistrict) and that districts cannot deny students leaving Troy; school staff said they had not seen this provision used in practice in their experience.
Board members pressed for clarity about both practice and law. Staff said NEOLA had suggested wording updates and had speculated the state statute might be reviewed in the future, but there was no guarantee. Trustees discussed the tension between maintaining integrated schools and the risk of policies being read as allowing race-based assignment.
After discussion, the board called for separate consideration of two policies and then voted. The roll call recorded a majority approval with one recorded dissent. (See actions for vote detail.) Board members requested staff to continue monitoring state statutory changes and to clarify the policy text in future revisions if state law is amended.
No formal changes to district practice were announced; staff said the update primarily aligns district policy language with state statute and NEOLA's recommended wording.
