The Paris School Board, at its meeting Thursday night, set by-grade limits that would make room for over 50 open enrollment students next year.
That action comes as a district support organization is preparing an unprecedented push to attract open enrollment students to the district.
The School Board set open enrollment limits last year as well. But this year the limits in upper grade levels were increased some. The new limits call for maximum class sizes of:
- 20 students for kindergarten first and second grades.
- 25 students for third fourth and fifth grades.
- 32 students for sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Comparison with anticipated class sizes mean adopting those class limits could add 53 students to the school’s enrollment if all the available spots were filled, said Roger Gahart, district administrator. Currently, there is only one class per grade at Paris for K-8.
In Wisconsin, open enrollment is a process by which students from one public school district can attend another. The district receiving the students does not have to accept all the students who apply.
Attracting additional students through open enrollment is generally seen as good because more students bring more state aid. A student currently brings about $6,200 in state aid to a district. But Paris wants to be careful they do not bring in too many and then end up having to hire staff, Gahart said.
The School Board also heard from Beth LaBell of the Paris YES Committee, which is working on a campaign to proactively promote open enrollment into the Paris district.
The committee will be advertising the advantages of Paris School in an ad on westofthei.com, with a companion website touting the school’s successes and even by putting promotional information in the hands of current Paris School families so they can talk up the school to others. If additional funds are raised, the committee may do other advertising as well, LaBell said.
