Open Enrollment FAQs

Pierz School Board Approves Resolution to Limit Open Enrollment

Current open enrolled students will still attend
At the regular board meeting of Feb. 28, the Pierz School Board adopted a Resolution to limit open enrollment numbers per grade. The Board also will approve a separate Open Enrollment Policy at its regular March meeting.

A draft of that policy was reviewed at the February meeting. The goal is to continue to provide financial efficiency, teaching and learning effectiveness, yet also create long term stability. “Open enrollment has helped all of us, by keeping the district financially strong, bringing terrific families into our communities, helping reverse declining numbers and the potential loss of programs and jobs,” said Superintendent George Weber, “but now is the time to put a limit on it.”

State law mandates all public school districts to allow the enrollment of students who do not live within the district’s attendance boundary, with the state funding flowing with those students to the school they attend. However, state law also permits a school board to limit the enrollment of nonresident students based on the capacity of a program, grade level, or school building.

Pierz Schools, effective immediately, has established a maximum number of students that can be enrolled in each grade. “It is very important to note that a grade level that is closed to open enrollment is still open for enrollment by resident students,” Weber said, “and that any student currently enrolled in the school district, even if open enrolled, can continue to attend Pierz Schools.” Like most public school laws, the State Legislature sets the rules regarding the implementation of Open Enrollment. Local School Boards have limited discretion within those laws.

Open Enrollment FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

All of the information below only applies to children who are not currently already a K-12 student at Pioneer Elementary or Healy High School and also do not reside within Pierz School District 484. All resident students and all current open enrolled students wherever they live, remain as students as long as they want to, and retain their student status as long as they remain in school.

What does it mean to Cap Open Enrollment? It means that the School Board can set limits on the number of children they serve at any specific grade level. It does not mean no one is allowed to open enroll in. It just means the board can limit those allowed to open enroll to a manageable number that fits well for each grade.
Do children who do not reside in the district bring in funding for the schools? Yes. A few decades ago, the State of Minnesota changed to a model where parents get to choose the school district they want, and the state funding follows that child wherever they go. Since that initial law, the State recently modified other funding formulas as well. So now, it is not just the general state aid follows the student, but other types of school revenue was changed from old formulas calculated based on “resident students”, to funding based upon “students served”. These changes have benefited Pierz Schools and helped decrease dependence on local levies to support school operations. This funding is directly related to the fact that Pierz has the lowest Resident Property Taxes Per Pupil, of any school district in our area.
If a parent already has a child in the school district does that affect a sibling being allowed to enroll? Yes. The State Statute requires districts give preference to any siblings of children already in the district. To be clear, that does not guarantee the sibling is automatically in, but it does mean the district must give that sibling any open slots prior to giving that slot to another child who applies. State Statute requires two groups of children who are required to receive preference on Open Enrollment:
1. Siblings of children already enrolled in the district, and
2. Children of district employees.
If a child is currently in the Pierz Preschool program are they already enrolled? No. Pre-school children do not show up as an enrolled student according to Minnesota Statutes. The Enrollment process officially starts in Kindergarten. We highly encourage families to consider our preschool program as it has provided strong evidence of Kindergarten Readiness.
If a child is attending Holy Trinity School, but does not reside in the district, do they have to apply for Open Enrollment? Yes. A student attending a private school or home school is not considered enrolled in a public district. They would be considered as a new student, whenever they transition into the School District. But, since the Pierz School District will manage its open enrollment by grade level, it is very likely that any child graduating from Holy Trinity, then going to 7th Grade at Healy High School, will not have to worry about open slots. The cap numbers by grade level throughout 7-12 will be considerably higher. The way the schedules work for 7-12 students allows much more flexibility in classroom space.
How does Busing work relative to Open Enrollment? All School Districts get Transportation Aid as a small fraction (4%) of the State Aid Per Pupil funding for any child enrolled in the schools, wherever they live; but, only if that child resides more than a mile away from the school if Elementary age or two miles away if they are Grade 7-12. That is an old state funding model that has been in place for many, many years. Districts then can do whatever they want with that funding and set up their bus routes however they want, but must transport those living in the district who are more than one mile and two mile distances mentioned above. Districts are no longer required to transport students to their district line if they are open enrolled out of the district. Since the funding is now part of the per pupil aid, it flows with the student wherever they attend. Therefore Pierz, like all districts, manages their routes as well as possible to provide a good service, and our routes vary from to year as we manage our total population.

For example:

There are times where we set up meeting spots and parents who live too far off our bus routes, have to meet the bus at that spot.
There are times when after a few years, we send a bus into an area we had not done in the past, because the number of children now attending from that area makes it financially worthwhile.
Most of our routes that require any significant time to drive outside the boundary lines do not pick up any resident children first. In most of those cases, the Pierz bus driver drives out the furthest point, and then we map out their route coming back toward the school. So resident children do not end up with a substantially longer ride, because of going out of the district.
There is no obligation to drive outside of the district boundaries, with one exception, which is when certain children have an IEP (a Special Education Individual Education Program) that might contain an added requirement that this particular child needs a specialized or separate vehicle, and in those cases, no school has a choice relative to busing. It is a state law. Those cases are rare, but they do exist and sometimes require a van or small bus having to make a trip we normally would not make.

What is the cap by grade level of the number of enrolled students?
Due to capacity constraints, for the remainder of the 2017–2018 school year, and for the 2018–2019 school year, the School Board hereby limits the enrollment capacity at each grade level as follows:

Enrollment in the District’s pre-kindergarten (non-Headstart) programming shall not exceed 80 students.
Enrollment in the District’s kindergarten program shall not exceed 94 students.
Enrollment in the District’s first and second grades shall not exceed 98 students per grade.
Enrollment in the District’s third and fourth grades shall not exceed 100 students per grade.
Enrollment in the District’s fifth and sixth grades shall not exceed 104 students per grade.
Enrollment in the District’s seventh, eighth, and ninth grades shall not exceed 130 students per grade.
Enrollment in the District’s tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades shall not exceed 400 students in total.

The Board has the authority to adjust these numbers from year to year. The Board does not need to change the Open Enrollment Policy to make changes to these numbers.