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 the 2024-25 school year. School districts may begin accepting applications from potential non-resident students in June 2024. Superintendent Khris Thexton outlined Great Bend's new policy to the board of education Monday night.
"This pretty much sets in policy how you will accept non-resident students to Great Bend USD 428; very much scripted on how that process will look," he said.
The district will determine the capacity for non-resident students at each building, and some applicants will be given priority before that open-seat lottery system, including any sibling of a non-resident student who has been accepted, military students, any child in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, and any student who has a parent or person acting as a parent employed by USD 428. Thexton also listed conditions where non-resident students will be automatically deemed not in good standing and denied entrance.
"Non-resident student fails to maintain a 95-percent attendance rate," he said. "Non-resident student or student's parent provides false or fraudulent information; non-resident student is not a resident of Kansas; non-resident is currently under a period of suspension or expulsion from any Kansas school district."
Other automatic disqualifiers pertain to out-of-school suspensions, violence or threats of violence, drug possession, use or sale, and being on track to graduate on time. School districts are not obligated to reimburse transportation costs for non-district students. Districts may receive applications from June 1-30, and must make a decision on the application on or before July 15.