NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
BUHLER, Kan. — Buhler USD 313 is making an effort to comply with a state statute that says that any student from out of district should be allowed to attend any school they want in Kansas, as long as there is space available. Figuring out the amount of space available is the ongoing work.
"In April, our district will send out an intent to return form," said Buhler USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman. "We'll send that to every student in our district, pre-K to 11th grade, asking if they are planning to come back next year, so we can reserve a seat for them. We're going to study that data and look at our historical data trends, talk to our admin. Then, we'll look at that, put all that data together and then we'll say, on May 1, what our capacity is. Capacity, it's not class size."
Legally speaking, every district has to take any kids in good standing that actually live in that district.
"Capacity is how many non-resident seats you have available by grade level," Couchman said. "That will have to be posted on everybody's website by May 1. After we have that data, from June 1 to June 30. If you are a non-resident student in our area. Really, this applies for any student in the state of Kansas, you can apply at a district. They will fill out a form saying that they want to come to Buhler schools."
July 1 to 15 is when the lottery for the limited spots will take place.
"That is a random drawing by each grade level for the open seats," Couchman said. "We'll draw them all out and list them out and then we'll notify them saying, your name was drawn, do you want the seat, yes or no. Then they'll have, our policy is going to state, two days to get back to us. Then we'll just keep going down the list until we fill our seats."
Once a student is in, presuming they remain in good standing, they can remain in the same district through their career.
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