City, county school districts sign agreement on out-of-district students

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Nelson County Schools Superintendent Anthony Orr.

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, 10 p.m. — The Nelson County Schools board of education unanimously approved a 13-year agreement that will gradually reduce the number of students who live in the Nelson County school district but attend the Bardstown Independent Schools.

The agreement starts with a baseline of 580 students who live in the county but attend city schools. The number excludes those students who have a parent employed by the city school district, and it also excluded preschool students.

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, the city school district agrees to accept 15 fewer out-of-district students each year for 12 consecutive years, for a total accumulated reduction of 180 students by the 2027-28 school year.

• Click here to download a pdf of the agreement.

The agreement also states that both districts and the Head Start program will hold preschool registration on the same day at separate locations. Bardstown Preschool will refer Nelson County district preschool students to the district’s Early Learning Center, though enrollment by family choice will be permitted.

Bardstown Independent Schools Superintendent Brent Holsclaw

The agreement was approved by both school boards Tuesday. The Bardstown board approved the agreement at their noon meeting Tuesday, while the county school board approved the agreement at their monthly regular board meeting.

“We’ve been working closely with Nelson County about the out-of-district students,” Superintendent Brent Holsclaw told the city school board. “We had two goals — to help them increase the number of students, and to do so in a very gradual manner.”

Superintendent Anthony Orr stressed that the agreement will not force county students who attend city schools to leave their school and return to a school in the county district.

The agreement is not an effort to equalize the number of students who go out-of-district, he said. There was also no intent to hurt the city school district financially.

Orr and Holsclaw explained to their respective boards the fine details of the agreement will be worked out in the future.

“We’ll continue to work closely with Nelson County and iron out the details,” Holsclaw told the board.

Orr told the board if the numbers of out-of-district students enrolling from the city district unexpectedly increases, the board would be willing to revisit the agreement.

Orr said after the meeting that the school board may have liked to see numbers reduced more quickly, but the agreement was a good compromise.

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