Could open enrollment let Kansas parents seek affordable homes and still attend preferred school?
As educators prepare for a new open enrollment policy scheduled to go into effect after two more school years, parents who are looking for homes may be able to consider more affordable houses outside their preferred district.
Open enrollment is a school choice policy that allows parents to enroll their children as students in a school outside the district they live in.
While supporters of the policy pushed it as a way to increase academic opportunity, they also say it could help homebuyers find more affordable housing.
"You think about the way that the housing market is right now and how crazy it is, it just opens up opportunity for folks, it doesn't limit them," said Elizabeth Patton, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Kansas. "I think it's an overall positive for Kansas families and having more flexibility in their options in life. And it's an arbitrary barrier that we're working on removing."
Districts currently may voluntarily offer open enrollment to students who live outside district boundaries. The new law makes it mandatory, depending on student capacity.
The education policy was tacked on to the K-12 school budget, HB 2567. It had originally been proposed in a standalone bill, SB 455.
Debate centered on the academic impact.
Supporters see open enrollment as an expansion of educational opportunity for individual students. Opponents argue it doesn't address underlying educational achievement gaps and unfairly places additional staffing and taxpayer burden on districts.
Written testimony from a Senate Education Committee hearing in March made scant mention of the housing market. One reference came from Tonya Merrigan, superintendent of Blue Valley Schools USD 229.
"Without intending to sound elitist, it is nonetheless true that housing costs in our districts often provide a check on resident student growth now," Merrigan said.
Is it too soon to forecast an impact?
Mark Tomb, Kansas Association of Realtors lobbyist, was skeptical of claims that open enrollment will affect the housing market.
"It's really early to speculate that there would be any impact — if there is an impact," he said. "I don't know."
He said homebuyers now are unlikely to take the policy into account since it doesn't go into effect until the 2024-25 school year.
"I don't see that impacting decisions any until it's effective," Tomb said. "And even at that point, I'm not sure how much. You know, it's hard to say. I think schools are an important part of what attracts people to live in certain locations. But proximity is important, too.
"Clearly students and their parents want good local schools. But I'm guessing that that convenience factor is still something that is going to drive decisions on locating closer to the educational choice that fits their family needs. Higher quality public schools probably always are going to be a factor of where people locate, where they want to raise their children, where they want to buy a home or live."
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Topeka housing market and Washburn Rural
Realtor Cole Cook, of Berkshire Hathaway in Topeka, said none of his clients have inquired about how open enrollment might affect their home search.
"The interesting thing about our area is we have schools of all sizes," Cook said. "We have very large schools, Washburn Rural, Topeka High. Then we also have what I would consider medium-sized schools, Seaman, Shawnee Heights. And then we have the small towns, Silver Lake, Rossville, (Jefferson) West. I think for a lot of those smaller districts, they were already pretty much allowing out of district kids."
In the Topeka area, the biggest effect will likely be on Auburn-Washburn USD 437. Cook said it is "a highly desirable school district and kind of tough to find a house."
It is also struggling with space. Voters last month approved a $145 million bond issue, headlined by $64 million to build a new middle school.
Among other uses of the money are $30 million to add preschool classrooms and $45 million for new middle school space for career and technical education.
"I don't anticipate schools like Washburn Rural having any space anyways for a few years," Cook said. "So I don't think it'll affect it a whole lot right off the bat."
More: What Auburn-Washburn USD 437's successful $145 million bond means for the school district
It remains to be seen how much of an effect there will be on the housing market.
"It may allow some people to buy houses in town out of that district and still be able to go there," Cook said of Auburn-Washburn. "But even then, there's a lot at play other than price point of a house."
"I don't think trading maybe paying a little bit more for a house that's closer to the school district is going to be something that's going to entice somebody to buy a house where the commute is 20 minutes longer," he said. "So I think, generally, we're still going to see people buying as close to the school district as possible."
'Succeed regardless of ZIP code'
The Kansas foray into open enrollment is less aggressive than school choice policies in other states.
Here, there's no guarantee that parents will be able to get their children into another district.
The law requires school administrators to first determine their capacity. If there is room, students from outside the district can apply — but if there are more applications than there are excess spots, the schools must turn to a lottery.
"I wish that our bill was a little more open," said Americans for Prosperity's Patton of the capacity determinations. "It's not a guarantee, but it's a much higher chance that they would have the opportunity to look outside the preferred district, but still have access to the public school that's the best fit for them."
Residential property-owner perspectives on open enrollment often take the argument that property values in more desirable districts will suffer, Patton said.
More: Topeka's residential appraisal values jumped 13.5%. One leader says deck is stacked against owners.
"What we've seen, and what I expect based on the bill as it was signed into law, I think there might be a component of positive impact in my view on the housing market," she said. "It does open up more opportunities for families to be in more affordable housing, and every student has the capability to succeed regardless of ZIP code."
"Some opponents felt that, as they paid a premium to live in their neighborhood, they didn't welcome that perspective," Patton said.
Objections have also been raised that while state funding would follow a student who changes districts, local property tax revenue would not.
"The parents of nonresident student transfers likely pay no property taxes to assist in supporting the school district, which likely will raise the ire of the community, particularly if the transfers receive an athletic position, etc., that a community member’s child, grandchild, or other relative has been projected to fill," Kansas State Board of Education members Deena Horst and Ben Jones testified to a Senate committee.
Patton said the families who can't afford to move are the ones who will benefit.
"I know of families who moved during 2020 to change districts, but that's not an option for everybody," she said. "So I think what you can focus on is the house in the neighborhood that's right for you, and then you can still have access to the school that's right for you."
Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas school choice policy could affect housing market, advocates say
