Northwest Arkansas' largest school districts experienced big increases this year in the number of students taking advantage of the state's school choice law.
The School Choice Act allows students to enroll in a district other than the one in which they live, assuming the receiving district has room for them. The deadline to apply for transfers for this coming school year was May 1.
School Choice
The School Choice Act allows students to transfer out of their home school district and into another. Here are the numbers of requests affecting Northwest Arkansas’ largest districts. In parentheses under “transfers in” is the district with the most students wanting to transfer in; under “transfers out” is the district receiving the most of those students leaving.
District * Transfer-in applications * Transfer-out applications
Bentonville * 23 (Rogers, 13) * 83 (Pea Ridge, 34)
Fayetteville * 76 (Springdale, 25) * 97 (Elkins, 32)
Rogers * 33 (Bentonville, 17) * 88 (Pea Ridge, 65)
Siloam Springs * 4 (Gravette, Gentry, 2) * 3 (Prairie Grove, 2)
Springdale * 46 (Fayetteville, 19) * 47 (Fayetteville, 24)
Source: Staff report
School choice numbers matter because enrollment affects each school district's budget. The state paid districts $6,584 per student for the 2015-16 school year.
The region's biggest four districts -- Springdale, Bentonville, Rogers and Fayetteville -- saw a combined 30 percent increase above last year in requests to transfer either in or out this year, according to numbers the districts provided.
Springdale received 46 requests for transfers into the district and 47 requests to leave. Those numbers are up from 25 requests to enter and 26 to depart last year via school choice.
The greatest number of requests for transfers into Springdale came from the Fayetteville School District -- 19. Fayetteville, meanwhile, received 25 requests from Springdale residents to transfer into its district.
Fayetteville's overall number of requests for transfers into the district was 76, nearly double last year's 40 requests. The number requesting to transfer out of Fayetteville was 97, one more than last year.
"The law is still kind of new, and more and more people really are learning about it," said John L. Colbert, Fayetteville's associate superintendent for support services.
Some people moving to Northwest Arkansas end up in a school district that's smaller than those to which they're accustomed, he said.
"A larger school does provide more opportunities for students. The curriculum is sometimes more rigorous, or maybe the school is closer to the parents' place of employment," Colbert said about possible reasons for transfers.
Other people prefer smaller districts over larger ones, he said. The most popular destination districts for families choosing to transfer out of Fayetteville this year were Elkins and Farmington, both districts with enrollments that are less than one-fourth of Fayetteville's.
The Bentonville School District received requests this year from 23 nonresident students to come into the district but denied 10 of them because of capacity issues. Eighty-three students requested to leave Bentonville, with most opting to attend either Pea Ridge or Rogers.
Debbie Jones, Bentonville's interim superintendent, said she's not surprised by the numbers because of how the districts are located.
"For some of the families that apply to go to Pea Ridge or Rogers, they may live right there on the boundary where that district feels like it's closer to them, or it feels more like a neighborhood school to them," Jones said.
Rogers, like Bentonville, saw far more requests to transfer out than to transfer into the district. Sixty-five of the 88 students who requested to transfer out of Rogers wanted to go to Pea Ridge.
"We appreciate that families have great options," said Ashley Siwiec, communications director for the Rogers district. "Many choose the Rogers schools for the quality of the teachers, the (Advanced Placement) program and the great extracurricular activities, but some may want to go to a school that is closer to their home or has a more rural feel. We hope they choose Rogers and all the opportunities we have here, but we understand when they might have a special circumstance."
Pea Ridge had 102 students apply to transfer into the district via school choice. Fourteen of those were students who already were attending Pea Ridge schools but recently moved out of the district. Only three asked to leave Pea Ridge this year.
Pea Ridge reported districtwide enrollment of 1,930 last fall, an increase of 4.8 percent over the previous year. The 15 school districts of Benton and Washington counties combined grew by 1.4 percent.
Pea Ridge officials weren't available for comment this week.
Transfer students, once accepted into their preferred district, may complete all remaining school years at that district. They may return to their home district at any time but must reapply if they want to transfer out again.
Applications must be submitted no later than May 1 to begin the following fall semester. The district to which a nonresident is applying must notify that person of its decision by July 1.
Local school boards may adopt specific standards for acceptance and rejection of applications. A possible standard would be if a district has reached at least 90 percent of the maximum student population in a program, class, grade level or building. Districts are not required to add teachers, staff members or classrooms in order to accommodate transfer students.
Transportation to and from the school is the responsibility of those parents or students who are transferring into a district.
A district also may reject a request to transfer out if that request would cause the district to exceed 3 percent loss of enrollment because of school choice.
NW News on 07/09/2016