The governing board of Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary School District recently voted to designate itself as a school district-of-choice.

The vote means that the school district can accept students from outside its boundaries without release from the students’ school district of residence. But admission must be a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether that pupil should be enrolled based on academic or athletic performance.

Student attendance is key to a public school district’s survival because revenue is based on student average daily attendance. With many school districts experiencing declining enrollment, and with state revenues down for public education, the Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes school board’s action could resonate across the Antelope Valley and may not come without complications.

According to a related resolution the board passed, for the 2010-11 school year Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes will accept up to 10 total inter-district transfers for the kindergarten level; 10 for the sixth through eighth grades; 20 total transfers each for the first and second grades levels; and 15 students each for third through fifth grades. The numbers were devised after looking at the transfers Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes already has.

Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Superintendent/Principal Diane Parkins said the school board has been considering the designation as a district-of-choice for about two years.

The principal recognizes the school board’s action would cause concern among neighboring school districts. “I didn’t mean it to be,” she said. “I was kind of pushed against a wall. I didn’t really have a choice. In our district, with the size that we have, there is nowhere to (cut) money, when we run into these situations (a budget crunch) except personnel.”

Parkins noted that she did not learn until mid-June that adjoining districts would not renew inter-district student transfers to Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes for 2010-11 school year. This means that the district, which consists of a single school, faces the potential loss of critical funding.

“The superintendents expressed their concern over the actions of the Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes board,” said Palmdale School District Superintendent Roger Gallizzi, president of the Antelope Valley Superintendents Association. “They requested that I asked for the intervention of the county superintendent.”

Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes’ school board’s action could especially impact Westside Union School District in the future, because most of the inter-district student transfers to Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes come from Westside.

“A lot of things have to do, obviously, with the financial situation statewide,” Westside Superintendent Regina Rossall said. “In the case of Hughes, they’re just looking at, I’m sure, trying to do what they need to do to maintain enrollment in their district.”

Rossall said the timeline for the Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes school board action does not fall within guidelines under state education code. According to Section 43808, a parent or guardian must submit an application to request a student’s transfer to the school district of choice “prior to January 1 of the school year preceding the school year for which the pupil is requesting to be transferred. This application deadline may be waived upon agreement of the school district of residence of the pupil and the school district of choice.”

“There has been no waiver agreed upon by Westside School District,” Rossall contended. The Westside superintendent said that they likely will seek guidance from the Los Angeles County Office of Education to ensure everything was done according to the law.

“Certainly the board has the right to become a district-of-choice,” she said. “Whether they could do that immediately or not depends on how you read the education code.” Rossall noted that Westside Union School District recently changed its inter-district transfer policy to three options: In terms of childcare, if a parent is employed within the boundaries of another school district wants their children to attend those schools, but live within the Westside district, a transfer can be granted.

Westside also will grant a transfer to a parent whose child has been going to another school and is in the last year at that school (e.g., if a child finished fifth grade and will move to sixth grade, the district will grant a transfer). And if the child’s family moved into Westside’s boundaries in the middle of a school year, the district will allow the student to finish the year at the current school.

Although Rossall said Westside’s school board is not considering designating itself as a district-of-choice, the action by Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes’ school board, could create a stir with its neighboring school districts.