Nearly half of Fort Mill parents oppose open enrollment in district schools

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by CarolinaWoman

Since Fort Mill supposedly has the best public schools in York County, it seems everyone in the county would be hauling their kids to Fort Mill. LOL

Open enrollment policies in every state i've researched mandate that the principals of both schools sign off on the kid. in Greenville County our school's principal does not have to allow the kid to transfer in if said student is an open enrollment student. you make it sound like every yocal in york is gonna rush their child to the "promise land" if the doors fling open. the FM4 super and administrators even with open enrollment don't have to take anyone if they don't feel they can handle the additional enrollment which i suspect they could not at this point.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by CarolinaWoman

I don't understand it, our county taxes that we pay to the school districts are based upon the school district where your home is located. It seems to me there would be a problem if a child lives in another district such as RH, York or Clover. Taxes are paid for that area it would pose a financial hardship on the Fort Mill schools if suddenly RH, York & Clover kids show up.

again every state i've ever researched (did my masters in edu. admin.) has financial regulations for open enrollment that say if a child open enrolls from school A to school B then any local or state funding will follow that student. every school has a dollar amount attached to each student. say for sake of argument a kid at rock hill high has a dollar tag of $8,000. when that kid leaves and goes to Fort Mill HS then RHHS just became 8k poorer and FMHS just became 8k richer.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by Gapeach69

One of my DD's best friends lives in Rock Hill and goes to a Fort Mill school. The mom told me they pay tuition in order for her to do that, but I'm guessing she means a yearly fee?

it's not tuition or a fee it's local and state tax dollars that follow the child if in fact this scenario is accurate.

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by greenvillebuckeye

Open enrollment policies in every state i've researched mandate that the principals of both schools sign off on the kid. in Greenville County our school's principal does not have to allow the kid to transfer in if said student is an open enrollment student. you make it sound like every yocal in york is gonna rush their child to the "promise land" if the doors fling open. the FM4 super and administrators even with open enrollment don't have to take anyone if they don't feel they can handle the additional enrollment which i suspect they could not at this point.

That was not the intent of my post. If you ever wander over to the York County forum, assuming you are in Greenville ... you will notice when someone inquires about relocating to our county they inquire about schools. Immediately the accolades start for the Fort Mill School District and they have every right to be proud of their public schools.

It was necessary in Fort Mill to freeze enrollment in several of their schools. This hasn't happened in the other York County Districts. Fort Mill does have great schools. But Clover and York both have good schools too. My children attended and graduated from the Rock Hill School District. I graduated from the RH School District.

The South Carolina General Assembly has not passed the Open School Enrollment Bill per my House Representative (Tommy Pope.) It has been placed on hold until next year. The 2011-2012 budget per pupil funding is $11,754. If a parent should apply and be accepted at a school out of their district, if accepted, they will have to pay a fee in addition to that amount budgeted. They must also provide transportation.

The reason the Open School Enrollment Bill was delayed additional provisions was placed in the Bill for homeschooling and private school vouchers.

I did not mean to indicate Fort Mill Schools was the Mecca or Promised Land of schools. They have a strong parent support base that some schools lack. But ... according to the records at the South Carolina Education Department's SAT scores for 2011 ... good ole Fort Mill's Average SAT Composite Score was 1569 (one of the best in the whole state) vs RH 1406, Clover 1439 & York 1366 ... I can well understand why a parent would want to enroll their child in the best public school.

http://ed.sc.gov/data/national-asses..._Districts.pdf

[Gapeach69]

The child I spoke of may have gotten in during an open enrollment period as she is now going into 5th grade. She was in my daughter's class at Springfield Elementary for 4th grade and they live in Rock Hill. People, I am not lying. Sheesh.

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by Gapeach69

The child I spoke of may have gotten in during an open enrollment period as she is now going into 5th grade. She was in my daughter's class at Springfield Elementary for 4th grade and they live in Rock Hill. People, I am not lying. Sheesh.

Gapeach my post was not to you. I believe you ... not necessarily open enrollment but I believe your daughter's friend goes to FM Schools. My nephews go to a school out of their district ... their mother works for the district and they ride with her ... a friend of mine that lives in Fort Mill (native) teaches in Rock Hill and brings her child with her to the RH School where she teaches.

In addition if one wants to go to the expense of a lawyer ... I have a friend that didn't want her children going to a certain high school here in RH. So they had friends that lived within the high school zone they wanted. They had the lawyer draw up guardianship papers and both of their daughters graduated from the parents preferred high school.

Diligent parents can find a way when they feel something is good or better for their child. If I still had school age children I would be longing for my children to go to Fort Mill schools. LOL