After hours of emotional debate, the financially beleaguered Cotati-Rohnert Park School District approved new rules Tuesday night that will make it more difficult for students to transfer out of Sonoma County's third-largest school district.
Beginning next year, most students will not be able to transfer out of the district for personal or social reasons. Instead, students must offer proof they are taking a specialized program that is not offered in Cotati-Rohnert Park. Other exceptions include staying at the same school or district as a sibling and in some cases, the location of a parent's employment.
At stake is about $250,000 in state funding that is attached to the district's attendance numbers. District officials believe that about 50 of the 800 students who typically transfer to other districts will now remain in Cotati-Rohnert Park. Approximately 400 students transfer into the district.
Before voting 5-0 to approve the change, most board members expressed mixed feelings about imposing tighter restrictions on parent choice in an era of increasing student mobility, especially when charter schools do not require any transfer approval to take students in.
"There also comes a point where we have to look at what we are losing and we have to shore it up so we can provide for everyone," said board president Karyn Pulley.
District officials said the new policy is in line with state education code and reflects policies similar to those maintained throughout the county and the state.
The board approved a measure Tuesday that concedes the district is not expected to meet its cash flow requirements either this year or next.
"We are very concerned," said Sonoma County Office of Education assistant superintendent Denise Calvert. "If you are not insolvent, you are very quickly approaching insolvency."
A financial adviser is expected to be assigned to help the district navigate the current budget and the impending May revision to the state budget, which could bring additional trouble for the district.
"A further decrease to this district of as little as $80 (in state funding for each pupil) will send you into insolvency," Calvert said.
As it has bled students - about 6,000 students attend its schools today, down from 8,300 in 2000 - the district has cut 25 percent of its budget in the past eight years, according to the district's chief financial officer Wade Roach. Coupled with deep cuts in what Sacramento provides for education, the finances of the district have been crippled, he said.
The district has closed three schools since 2002 and Mountain Shadows Middle School will be shuttered at the end of the current school year. Middle school sports have been cut, 43 teachers were laid off last year and another 29 are expected to receive pink slips next week.
Parents at Tuesday night's meeting expressed concern that Cotati-Rohnert Park will struggle to stem the outgoing flow of students when so many enrichment programs have been cut and class sizes have increased to nearly 30 students, even in kindergarten through third grades, as the district tries to deal with its budget woes.
Debbie Prusinoski has gotten inter-district transfers for all three of her children. She expressed concern that amid mounting budget pressure, all parents should be given the freedom to select their child's school.
"These are all very personal choices. They are specific and discreet to each child and who better to decide than their parents?" she said. "It is one of the few that we as parents feel we have left."
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