LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools unveiled a proposed overhaul of its complex student assignment plan, which aims to deliver more options for families in and near west Louisville.
A version of the proposal, released by the district Monday, is expected to be presented to the Jefferson County Board of Education in May and in place beginning in the 2023-24 school year.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio believes changes to the district's student assignment plan have been long overdue after more than 40 years without significant revisions.
"There are a lot of differing opinions about this, and I hear them every day about what we should do or shouldn't do," Pollio said during a news conference Tuesday. "I have not heard what we're doing is right."
The proposal segments the current patchwork of school assignment zones that encompasses neighborhoods including Russell, Portland, Shawnee, California, Parkland, Chickasaw, Old Louisville, Shelby Park, Smoketown and Phoenix Hill into 13 “choice zones” with paired middle and high schools. Families residing in any of those “choice zones” can pick middle and high schools assigned there or attend a new West End middle school and the Academy @ Shawnee.
"Choice zones" proposed as part of the JCPS student assignment proposed update.
Those currently enrolled in schools no longer covered by their satellite resides boundaries can continue attending those schools if the proposal is adopted, according to a district spokesman.
School enrollments will likely shift "pretty dramatically over the coming years" under the plan, if it passes muster with the JCPS board, Pollio said.
Exactly how drastic such enrollment changes will be remains to be seen. Pollio said three out of four families in west Louisville opt for elementary schools close to their communities when picking their top choices in their elementary school clusters.
"Probably the number one call we get to the student assignment office is a fifth grade family saying, 'I don't want to send my child 25 miles away from home. I can't get there. I can't support. I can't be involved,'" Pollio said, adding that families face "an enormous challenge" in such circumstances.
"We're going to have to adjust based on what families want, and I'll say it again, we're empowering the families and the parents to make decisions," he said.
Pollio hopes the district will regularly amend its student assignment plan to respond to population shifts. Census data, he said, should automatically trigger a review of the JCPS student assignment strategy.
"This is how we've gotten with schools with 125 percent capacity and schools with 50 percent capacity," Pollio said.
A public forum on the proposal was held Tuesday at Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Complex hosted by the Louisville Urban League and Courier-Journal.Â
There, parents asked why families on the east side, can't send kids to a middle or high school in west Louisville, other than magnet schools. But, west side families can send their kids to neighborhood schools, or to schools in other parts of the county.
"I don't think moving a student to another neighborhood is going to directly impact and improve student outcomes, unless the family is choosing to do that. West Louisville families haven't had the choice to do that,' said Pollio. "We need to do that."
Pollio touted the district’s upcoming student assignment plan changes as part of “bold” changes he envisioned for Kentucky’s largest public school district in 2022. JCPS and stakeholders have discussed changes for the district’s student assignment plan in recent years.
The proposal, if approved, would utilize some funding for the recent property tax rate that’s expected to yield $54 million in new annual revenue for the plan.
The district plans to increase budget allotments for schools with high concentrations of poverty, increase staffing and incentivize retention at such schools, create flexible school calendars and extended learning times, and more, according to a presentation on the plan.
"We will have some things that will be built in automatically: higher teacher pay, higher principal pay smaller class size, more counselors, more mental health support for our highest need schools," Pollio said. "But we will also have the ability for schools to tailor make that for their specific school population."
JCPS expects to spend $5 million to support the Academy @ Shawnee and the new west Louisville middle school and $7 million for Maupin Elementary, Kennedy Elementary, King Elementary, Cochran Elementary, Engelhard Elementary, Wheatley Elementary, Atkinson Elementary, Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary, Byck Elementary and Portland Elementary, according to the presentation.
The student assignment plan also affects the district’s magnet programs, which would no longer be able to exit, or kick out, students within the first phase of the JCPS student assignment proposal.
Magnet programs would need to set diversity targets for enrollment and take steps to better align their enrollments with the demographics of the entire district under the proposal.
"If you go to other cities that follow best practices, their magnets are very diverse and thriving and attract students from all over the community," Pollio said.
The district also hopes to expand magnet program offerings and replicate popular programs so more students can enroll in the selective programs. JCPS envisions creating a full Spanish immersion magnet at Hawthorne Elementary and a new magnet program at Western High on coding and computer science within the first two years of the new student assignment plan.
Pollio expects some resistance to changes his administration is proposing for the district's student assignment plan.
"I think this is why in this community student assignment hadn't been tackled in 40 years, because it's hard," he said. "It's really, really hard. There's a lot of differing opinions about this."
A presentation on the proposed student assignment plan can be seen at this link.
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