NY District Recruits Students From Other Schools

Tucked into the leafy suburbs north of New York City, the Blind Brook-Rye public school district seems to have it all: state-of-the-art classrooms, high test scores and an enviable record of sending graduates to college, including

many in the Ivy League.

What it hasn't always had in recent years is enough students. So to keep from laying off teachers and cutting back programs, the district is embarking on a plan to recruit from neighboring districts whose families are willing to pay tuition of more than $20,000 a year — to a public school.

"We believe we have something that's highly attractive, and to use a business term, 'marketable,'" said Superintendent William Stark, whose 1,500-student district has one grade school, one middle school and one high school.

In a glossy brochure sent to neighboring districts, Blind Brook touts class sizes in the low 20s, 16 Advanced Placement courses, a top-100 ranking for its high school by U.S. News and World Report and award-winning Model UN, Mock Trial and math teams.

Outside students will be accepted only in grades where there's enough room to add students without hiring another teacher. And they'll have to arrange their own transportation.

"If we get one or two dozen, that's a quarter- to a half-million dollars," said Stark, whose district's annual budget is $41 million. "That can make the difference in offering another program or keeping a teacher or two, or maybe even lowering somebody's taxes."

Actively recruiting tuition-paying students from nearby districts is rare, but experts say it's a testament to the financial squeeze on public schools at a time of tax caps, tapped-out homeowners and dwindling government aid.

"School districts are all pinched and most are looking at ways they can trim," said Patte Barth of the National School Board Association. "They're increasing class size. They're laying off staff as a last resort. We do hear about some districts thinking creatively, and this is one."

Some public schools recruit students in states that have school choice rules, under which a student from one district can go to school in another district, and some state aid goes with the student. But those students do not pay tuition.

Superintendent Brett Kustigian of the Quaboag district in Warren and West Brookfield, Mass., said the district had been losing up to $800,000 a year under the choice system until it started recruiting. This year's effort included 19,000 postcards sent in April to parents in neighboring districts, highlighting Quaboag's AP classes and U.S. News ranking.

"We've got about 100 (outside) students now, so that's half a million dollars (in state aid)," Kustigian said. "We also do open houses. Some districts put up billboards."

The Riverdale district in Oregon also takes interdistrict transfers — if the home district consents. If not, outside students can come to Riverdale anyway and pay tuition of up to $11,500, said spokeswoman Jody Haagenson.

The district, though within the city of Portland, is independent of the city school system. It boasts the state's top percentage of students going on to college, Haagenson said.

"We don't do any active recruiting," she said, "but word is out that we hope to pull in students. We do have an open house that we advertise in the community papers."