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House Bill 3681
Posted On 01 Jan 2012
Allows student to attend school in school district where student does not have legal residence. Effective January 1, 2012.
Current statute specifies that in cases where students attend schools in districts where they do not have legal residence, the school boards of both the resident district and the district in which the student attends school must give written consent for students to be considered residents of the districts in which they attend school.
House Bill 3681 provides that students are considered residents of the district in which they attend school if they receive written consent from the district school board where the school is located.
Consent of the district of which they are legal residents is no longer required under the measure. The measure also specifies processes for school boards to provide consent and notification, to hold lotteries in cases of limited enrollment and to give preference to siblings of non-resident students already enrolled in district schools. Here is a link to 5 frequently asked questions about this bill from an article published on Oregon Live.
How does this apply to Corbett School?
In March of 2011 the Corbett School Board voted ( 5-2 ) to extend and expand the Corbett Charter School to 510 seats and until 2014. This was done after two executive sessions and placing this action item on the agenda the day before the board meeting. This was done to help remedy the missing $725,000 that was discovered soon after Superintendent Randy Trani took his job from past Superintendent Bob Dunton ( who became the Charter Director ).
After that move, there were no open seats in Corbett Schools ( District side ) and so kids from other districts that wanted to come out to Corbett could only go into the lottery for the Charter School. [ Link to more information on this here. ]
2011/2012
The 1.8 million in loans the Corbett School District took out to refurbish/rebuild the Springdale School in 2011/2012 to create the “CAPS” program, has created, in essence, around 248 more seats for the district ( CAPS is allowed 268 students and staff ) whether in Springdale or at CSD proper. The law could have also been beneficial if plans to redistrict with Cascade Locks were to have gone through.
2013
We have an application for population increase with Multnomah County ( The Conditional Use Application by Randy Trani and Peter Fry ). The Corbett school board and public have not been included in the discussions or numbers being asked for. The “desired” numbers are expanding the district from what it currently is and we are leaving the door open in case we rebuild/add buildings/classrooms. ( Perhaps with a $15 million dollar bond? )
Of course all these plans have the drawback ( for some ) of expanding, again, our school district.
I understand why the Corbett Charter School was enacted, but now that House Bill 3681 has been set into law, why continue with the Charter at all? It seems to me that this would eliminate paying a Director for the Charter in the excess of $200,000 a year and that money could best be spent on bringing back the accreditation.
As a note: Dr. Richard Darst, Director for the Nortwest Accreditation Commission, spoke to the FACTS of accreditation at the Grange this past Tuesday. Turns out it would cost us less than $600/year in total to become accredited. Other misconceptions mentioned here: http://corbettoregon.com/forum/index.php?topic=581.0