Richfield School Board Discusses 'Choice' Program

It's been 11 years since Minnesota began The Choice is Yours program, which allows Minneapolis families that qualify for free or reduced-price lunches to enroll their child in public schools outside of their resident district.

Yet due to changes in student demographics of participating districts and changes within the program since its start, organizers of The Choice is Yours are discussing possible revisions, including whether to continue the program in districts like Richfield, which currently has about 80 Minneapolis students enrolled.

At the April 18 regular meeting of the , the board discussed district participation in the program and whether or not it would take a position with the Joint Powers Board of the West Metro Education Program (WMEP), which oversees The Choice is Yours.

"We do get some wonderful students from Choice is Yours," said Richfield School Board Director Tom Flood, who represents Richfield as a member of WMEP. "It's been an asset to our district."

The Richfield School Board is very open and welcoming to The Choice is Yours students, but Flood said it doesn't want to become dependent on the additional funding that comes from participating in the program.

WMEP Superintendent Dan Jett said that since 2000, when the program was implemented, the demographics of districts like Richfield have changed. Program guidelines dictate that districts where more than 50 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches do not participate in The Choice is Yours and since the start of the program, the number of students in Richfield who qualify for a free or reduced lunch has risen above 50 percent.

Also, Jett said the program was designed for 2,000 students to transfer and now has more than 2,150. As a result of these factors, WMEP is discussing possible changes to the program.

"Do we go back and find a way to cap the number at 2,000 or let it continue to grow?" he asked.

Currently the Richfield School Board is discussing whether or not to take a position with WMEP on how the program should be handled.

"We have to look at this landscape and then make a decision so we can let our families know we're either going to accept students or not, which grade levels and how many," Slotterback said.

The Choice is Yours program started as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Minneapolis NAACP against the State of Minnesota in 1995, which challenged the state's oversight of Minneapolis schools. In 2000, the court ruled in favor of the NAACP and the program began shortly thereafter.

Richfield Patch will continue to cover this issue as the board continues to discuss the program and its potential changes.

Other items discussed included:

• The board toured , which included a visit to the World of Wonder or WOW laboratory.
• The board heard from Kate Foate Trewick, who presented a segment of the district's annual report on curriculum, instruction and achievement. The board approved a portion of the 2009-10 annual report which outlined improvement goals for individual schools.
• The board approved a bid of $199,975 for the removal and replacement of the intercom and clock systems at and to Olympic Communications, Inc. of Spring Lake Park, MN.

The next school board meeting is at 7 p.m. on May 2 at .