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Orting reports net outflow of choice-transfer students; district not accepting new waivers
Summary
Director Fries presented transfer data showing about 555 students transfer out of the district while roughly 63 transfer in (including employee waivers); staff said location, work and childcare drive moves and the district is not currently accepting new out-of-district waivers.
Director Fries presented the board with the district’s most recent choice-transfer and waiver data and described drivers behind the numbers. "Big picture you'll see that 555 students go out," Fries said, and staff reported about 63 students coming into the district, with roughly 46 of those coming in through employee waivers and other historic exceptions.
Fries explained many outgoing transfers are location-driven (residence, parent workplace or childcare arrangements) and noted that the district no longer opens for new waivers. The presentation also noted the district counts partial enrollments as fractional FTEs when homeschool or online students take individual classes (for example, the district records partial FTE for students who attend a single course such as band or PE), which helps explain reported FTE figures.
Board members asked clarifying questions about homeschooling numbers and how the district counts ancillary participants. Fries said the district identified about 240 students participating in homeschooling (the transcript phrased the number as "2 40"), and he described annual auditing of homeschool intent forms and the district’s partial-FTE accounting process; staff also said they try not to remove students who have already matriculated through the system.
Fries and other staff rejected the notion that the district is "trucking" students from other districts, noting that addresses determine district eligibility and that the district does not actively pull students from neighboring districts; the board said enrollment and capacity projections may be revisited in the spring after bond-related space changes are better defined.
