By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
In 2022, the Kansas State Legislature passed a bill that will allow students to enroll in any public school district, regardless of where they live, beginning in June 2024. Local school districts are now formulating what the new law will look like in their buildings. USD 428 Great Bend Superintendent Khris Thexton began that process at Monday's board of education meeting.
"The nice thing about it is we determine where they go," he said. "If somebody comes in and says I live out of district, I want to go to Jefferson, they don't get that option. They get to say I would like to come to elementary in Great Bend 428. Then you can assign them based on where you have the numbers to hold those students."
Thexton said the district must provide public notice ahead of the Nov. 13 meeting when the board will vote on the matter. Part of USD 428's proposed policy will require incoming students to have a 95 percent attendance rate or better in the last school year, the student or parents submitted an accurate application, and the student had one or fewer out-of-school suspensions in the current school year.
"Maybe we have an influx, but I see this more of a Johnson County area, Shawnee County, Sedgwick County," said Thexton. "I see that being an issue. If you want to be in the Maize district and you live in the Goddard district, I can see that process taking place."
Families may begin applying to districts after the New Year. Districts must inform those families of their enrollment eligibility by June. Students changing districts outside of beginning their seventh-grade or ninth-grade years may still be subject to the Kansas State High School Activities Association's eligibility rules that require that student to sit out of activities for one year.