Stow-Munroe Falls board moves to suspend open enrollment, approve emergency tuition schedule

The Stow-Munroe Falls City School District Board of Education voted May 4 to suspend its open-enrollment policy and adopt an emergency tuition schedule for 2026–27, setting tuition at $2,500 for grades K–11 and $2,000 for grade 12 while phasing out open enrollment immediately.

Board members said the move is intended to narrow a forecasted shortfall and preserve core programming after administrators presented multiple scenarios for the district’s roughly 228 open‑enrolled students. Superintendent Dr. Gold and finance staff outlined options ranging from a no‑new‑applications phase‑out to flat or tiered tuition and grandfathering for certain grades; administration estimated the fiscal impact of different approaches at between roughly $228,000 and $448,000 in net district costs depending on assumptions about which students would remain.

The decision followed more than an hour of public comment during which parents, a student and other residents urged the board to consider community ties and the effect on families. A student, Ella Baker, told the board she was worried about losing classmates if tuition or enrollment changes forced transfers. Several commenters asked the board to seek alternatives before moving students out of the district.

Board members debated fairness and affordability at the meeting. Supporters of the adopted motion said a moderate tuition level that applies across grades would be more predictable and less punitive than exempting some grades while charging others, and argued that denying future open‑enrollment applications without a tuition policy would carry a larger, longer-lasting budget cost. Opponents cautioned about the burden on families and urged consideration of family caps, discounts or phased grandfathering; the board asked legal counsel about whether family‑level caps are permissible under state law.

Administration emphasized legal constraints on charging fees: tuition cannot be structured to exclude access to CTE or other programs that the district offers to resident students, and the district may not impose program fees on tuition students where such fees are charged to resident families.

The motion was introduced and seconded during the board’s discussion; roll call was taken after debate. (The board’s meeting minutes and official roll‑call record will include the formal vote tally and the policy language required to enact the emergency tuition for the coming year.)

Next steps outlined by the administration include formally suspending policy 5113 (open enrollment), adopting policy 6150 (tuition) under an emergency waiver of the three‑reading rule and returning to the board with final policy language and payment‑plan options for families.

Context: The action comes as the district seeks to close a multi‑year budget gap driven in part by state funding dynamics and expiring local levies. Board members said they will revisit tuition rates annually and continue outreach to affected families and community partners.