Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The issue of choice transfer and home-school students was discussed briefly by the Colfax School board at their last meeting Oct. 26.
Superintendent Jerry Pugh gave a report on the numbers, which list students who live in the Colfax district but choose to attend outside of it – such as a Colfax elementary student going to Steptoe or a Colfax high school student going to Pullman. The total, and the reasons for these choice transfers is what makes up the issue.
Pugh reported that 86 students fall into the category of choice transfers, with about an even split between elementary-school students and high school. The largest recipients are Steptoe Elementary, with 28 students from Colfax’s Jennings Elementary, and Pullman, of which schools have 40.
When parents or a guardian elects to transfer their child, they fill out a form with reason codes.
“Reason codes really don’t give us much of anything,” Pugh said. He cited Reason 2, which is where a parent works.
“Which makes a ton of sense,” he said, then noted that other categories are broad.
“Some people check all three,” he said. “I don’t understand it at all.”
Pugh then told the board that in July, soon after he started as superintendent, he talked to “several families” who came to see him and reversed their decision to transfer and kept their children in the Colfax schools. He continued to note that some of the families live near the border of the district.
“Quite frankly, it’s closer to choice into (the other school),” Pugh said.
Colfax has 19 students on this year’s roster who live outside of the district.
“This is one of our learning areas, administratively,” Pugh said. “We hear a lot at the second level – what they can offer (as far as electives, etc.) versus what we can offer. We just have to give the most information to parents so they make an informed decision.”
Board member David Nails asked the superintendent if there was any “game plan” on his part to do this.
“We have talked about, is it the course selection, or is it a bad experience, or what is it?” Pugh said, as part of his answer.
Rankings
Earlier in the Oct. 26 board meeting, Jennings Elementary School principal Travis Howell reported to the board that the school-ranking website Schooldigger has moved Jennings up to No. 20 in the state.
The next highest ranked elementary schools in eastern Washington were in Spokane and Kennewick, ranked 48th and 49th.
Howell noted that Jennings – with a free and reduced lunch rate of 37 percent – was the only school above 10 percent (free and reduced lunch) in the top 20.
The Colfax school jumped 176 spots in the school rankings since 2013.
Howell attributed the leap to newly recorded test scores which were instituted last year; Smarter Balance, which measures English/Language Arts and Math, given to third through eighth-graders.
Schooldigger is a free ranking service which profiles public schools in all 50 states, evaluating enrollment date, test scores, crime and real estate data and more. It was founded in 2006.
“A lot of the ranking has to do with the great work that (previous Jennings principal) Tom Arlt did and the teachers to prepare the students for Smarter Balance,” Howell said. “We’re in the top of the state in test scores. The students are performing very well on the state tests. I think it’s a credit to our families too.”
The Smarter Balance tests are tied to Common Core, the set of standards developed for nationwide use, of which 42 states have adopted.
As far as reasons to transfer out, Howell suggests quality of education is unlikely to be one of them.
“Everybody has a different reason, and some of them are really good,” he said. “While our staff is second to none. We provide a very quality education here, and these rankings show it. I can just tell you we offer an amazing education here. From my experience, this is a special place.”
Howell previously worked in Spokane where choice transfers were also part of the landscape.
“It’s everywhere. Some students transfer out of a district while others transfer in,” he said, explaining that where parents work and how that plays into whether one can be home when kids get out of school or subsequent daycare arrangements, etcetera.
New Colfax High School principal Nathan Whittle has seen this too, at other schools he’s worked in in Washington and Idaho.
“I’ve personally talked to many families – those transferring in, and out – what I most often hear is it’s about opportunity,” Whittle said. “Pullman can offer things that we can’t. It may not be that we’re doing anything wrong, it’s just that we don’t have the same opportunities. Smaller class size, I’ve heard that, for going to Steptoe versus Colfax. It could be personal too. Parents may not like a decision that was made.”
He also noted social and personal issues among students.
“But the majority of things I’ve seen are because of opportunity,” Whittle said. “So if we can’t have a bowling team, let’s be the best we can in what we’ve got. Because we can’t offer the quantity, we need to make sure we offer the best quality.”
Whittle came to Colfax from American Falls, Idaho.
“In American Falls, it was all about opportunity. You would see them choicing left and right. It’s almost like a leaky faucet. It just drips every once in awhile. I don’t see it as a problem. Where I’m concerned is in just focusing being the best we can in what we do offer.”
He also spent time in the Yakima School District.
“The transfers were all about safety there,” he said.
Overall, the choice-transfer matter plays into how much funding a district receives from the state, as money is designated by the count of how many full-time equivalent students a district has.
“It’s gonna take kids to choice back in to Colfax, so we have the funding to offer more things,” Whittle said.
Pullman
The Pullman School District has 79 choiced-in transfer students this year, including 33 from Colfax, 22 from Colton, 13 from Palouse and seven from Garfield.
Pullman has 25 students who choice-out of the district, including 23 who go to online academies, which receive state funds.
The total choicing-in students at Pullman make up three percent of the student body.
“The numbers look bigger to the outside schools than they do to us,” said Paul Sturm, Pullman School District Superintendent.
Colfax’s number of 33 students transferred to Pullman makes up about five percent of its total student population.
“There’s a number of factors (for choice-in transfers),” said Sturm. “I’m sympathetic with the plight of our neighboring schools. We have our challenges here and declining enrollment is not one of them. Anecdotally, a family lives outside of Pullman because housing is less expensive, and they work here and own a business here. Or, ‘we’re going to move there, we just haven’t been able to find a house yet.’”
The Pullman District is in the midst of an era of growth, in which finding spots for each new student is one of their top challenges.
Would they potentially have to turn transfer students away at some point?
“It’s possible in the next few years,” Sturm said. “If we continue to grow and have to reduce class size (due to state mandates). If we came to the point that we don’t have the capacity and think that it’s negatively impacting education.”
Other choice-in reasons Sturm mentioned were families who live in the country between Colfax and Pullman, where which school to attend is not a natural decision, so it can be impacted by where their friends go or other reasons.
“If there is an education factor, a larger system promotes more choices, more options,” Sturm said.
The choice-transfer numbers do not include students living in a district who attend private school. Pullman’s 81 home-schooled kids are not reflected in choice numbers either.
“Choice is different because the state money follows the student,” Sturm said.
What might he do if he were the superintendent for one of the smaller districts like Colfax?
“I think the small, rural schools, can promote the good things that they’re doing, the unique advantages of a small school, and I don’t know what else. I don’t know that it’s their fault. While we all have to be in the business of marketing what we do.”
Overall, Whittle noted that to have a choice is a plus for students.
“It’s good they have options,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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