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Hamilton County moves hardship-transfer decisions to central office amid open-enrollment growth
Summary
District staff said hardship-transfer approvals will be centralized in the central office rather than decided by individual principals; staff said principals will still provide capacity data but central office will make final staffing and transfer decisions.
Staff told the Policy Committee that the district changed its hardship-transfer procedure so decisions are no longer made at the school level by principals; instead, central office staff will make final determinations.
Superintendent Dr. Robertson and other presenters described the shift as an effort to standardize the process after open enrollment and school choice expanded over time and reduced the number of hardship approvals. Principals will continue to provide input on seat availability and class-size impacts, but school-based recommendations will be advisory rather than dispositive. Staff said the change has already been implemented operationally and that they would incorporate the procedure into policy language to reflect current practice.
Board members raised concerns about cases where principals may know specific student histories (discipline or support needs) and asked whether central office would heed principals' warnings when recommending denials. Staff responded that decisions would be made case-by-case, taking principals' input and available supports into account. Staff also said that fewer hardship approvals have been requested in recent years because of expanded open enrollment options across the county.
No formal vote was taken; staff said they would finalize policy language and bring it back to the board.
