“It’s been going very well,” said Jerry Ellender, district treasurer. “There were a lot of people here early this morning.”
For the first time in its history, Mad River Local Schools is opening its enrollment to all students in Ohio in an attempt to increase revenue and fill classrooms.
The district lost out on receiving $1.93 million from the state because the number of students attending its schools fell to 3,480 students this year, down from 3,820 students in the 2008-09 school year. Ohio public school districts receive $5,700 per pupil annually from the state.
District officials attribute the loss in student population to parent-age residents moving out of the area.
The district’s facilities could support adding 500 students before reaching capacity, but the schools can accommodate only about 200 to 300 new students without incurring any additional costs, Ellender said.
“It really depends on how many native students register for next year, because we have to put them in place first,” Ellender said.
At the current rate, the district should be able to fill 200 spots, school officials said. The most available space in the district is in the middle school.
Kacy Jackson’s two daughters already attend Virginia Stevenson Elementary School, but her family has to live with Jackson’s mother-in-law, Velda Davis, in Riverside to meet the district’s residency requirements.
Jackson said she looked for housing in Riverside, but she could not find a place that would accept her two large German shepherds. Jackson has found homes in Dayton that would allow her dogs, but she refuses to move if it means her daughters would have to attend Dayton Public Schools.
“I am not a big fan of Dayton Public,” said Jackson, who attended elementary school in Dayton.
Jackson said her daughters receive a better education in Riverside than they could in Dayton.
Mad River earned an “effective” rating from the state last year. Dayton Public Schools is on “academic watch.”
Tabatha Vaughan, a 2001 graduate of Stebbins High School, lives with her family on the outskirts of Riverside in a house located in the Dayton school district. Vaughan said she pays Mad River’s $2,700 annual tuition so her 7-year-old son, Lukas, can attend the district’s schools.
Students who live in other school districts can attend Mad River schools, but under Ohio law they must pay tuition. With open enrollment, the district’s tuition students will no longer be charged to attend Mad River schools.
Vaughan said she does not want her children attending Dayton schools because they seem overcrowded and Mad River schools are better academically. She said open enrollment will save her money while allowing her children to receive the same kind of quality education she did.
“My son has been there since kindergarten, and I’m telling you it’s amazing,” she said.
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