Schools
Number of Out-of-District Students Increases in Berkeley Schools
A total of 645 out-of-district permits were approved by the Berkeley Unified School District for the 2011-12 school year — an increase of 15 percent over last year. The majority of new permits were granted to children of BUSD employees.
The Berkeley Unified School District admitted 15 percent more out-of-district students for the 2011-12 school year than the previous year, according to data being presented to the school board Wednesday (see the school board agenda packet, item 3.1-I).
A total of 645 inter-district permits were granted this year, of which 88 percent were for continuing students. In the 2010-11 school year, continuing students made up 94 percent of the 561 permits granted. District enrollment, meanwhile, stayed relatively flat, dropping by three students between 2010 and 2011. Out-of-district transers make up 6.8 percent of the 9,465 students enrolled this year.
The numbers show that the majority of new permits allowing out-of-district students to attend Berkeley schools were granted to the children of BUSD employees — a total of 55 out of the 77, or 71 percent. Most of these students went into Kindergarten.
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Francisco Martinez, manager of the Admission's Department, said that there was no particular significance to this year's increase, and that is was simply a case of more BUSD employees applying for their children to attend Berkeley schools.
The district's practice is not to approve inter-district transfer requests, according to school district spokesman Mark Coplan. However, there a few conditions that allow permits to be granted, with children of BUSD employees given precedence. Children who have siblings in the district are also offered access, as are students with extenuating circumstances and appeals cases.
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Being an inter-district transfer student "is a privilege," says district policy, and students must meet certain requirements to gain and retain their place. These requirements include a record of good attendance, no previous or continuing behavorial problems and satisfactory academic achievement. However, while the inter-district transfer process is selective and rigid, the district .
To help curb the problem, the district conducts home visits to verify residency each year. This year, a total of 275 home visits were made, resulting in 21 students being denied admission.
The flow of inter-district transfer students also goes the other way. More Berkeley students left their home district this year, with a total of 226 students requesting to leave Berkeley Unified. The majority of requests came from the high school level.
Total Inter-District Transfer Requests into BUSD 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Total requests received 783 752 764 Total out-of-district permits approved 571 561 645 Number of permits approved for continuing students 554 525 568 Number of requests denied 212 191119
New Inter-District Transfer Requests into BUSD 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Total newly approved out-of-district permits 17 36 77 Permits granted to children of BUSD employees 11 23 55 Permits granted to siblings of currently enrolled students 5 12 12 Permits granted after appeal 0 1 4 Permits granted due to extenuating circumstances 0 0 4 Permits granted to comply with SELPA agreement 1 0 0
Inter-District Transfer Requests out of BUSD 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Total outgoing transfer requests 190 217 226 Elementary 75 107 91 Middle 46 34 42 High 69 76 93
Residency Verification Home Visits 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Homes visited to verify residency 281 258 275 Approved 231 227 254 Denied 50 31 21
What do you think of the district's inter-district transfer policy? Let us know in the comments.
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