West Side tries to thread needle on upended student transfer policy
Plus, LSC considers Lafayette Virtual Academy as a new online high school.
West Lafayette school board members seemed to remain split Thursday night over details of just how far to go with updated student transfer practices after a two-hour discussion that took in potential consequences of the district’s declining enrollment trends, classroom capacity, questions of fairness to in-district residents who pay for a voter-approved additional property tax referendum and several angles of the current real estate market.
Board members agreed to give Superintendent Shawn Greiner a crack at writing a proposed transfer policy and then to stand ready between now and the school board’s March 9 meeting to vote on rules set for the 2026-27 academic year and beyond.
“As long as we can move quickly,” Amy Austin, school board president, said, “because I know we have families waiting on us to make a decision, and I want them to have as much time as possible to make the right decision for their families.”
The situation: West Lafayette has been in a holding pattern on the student transfer policy since last summer, after a new state law stripped school districts’ ability to charge the additional costs of a property tax referendum to families of transfer students who live and pay taxes somewhere else.
