BBCHS OKs non-resident admission for employees' kids

BRADLEY – The children of Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School employees will soon be able to attend BBCHS regardless of their in-district residency status.

The BBCHS District 307 Board voted 6-0 last week to change the district’s residency policy to allow enrollment for nonresident students who are the children of district employees.

With the superintendent’s approval, the normal tuition charge for out-of-district students will be waived for these students.

Superintendent Matt Vosberg said that a change in the Illinois School Code from more than a year ago allowed districts to adopt this policy change.

Before that, a waiver from the state was required.

BBCHS did have the state waiver in the past, but the waiver has been expired for a couple of years.

“We think this is a good perk for our staff members to keep them connected to our school,” Vosberg said. “We think we have families that would take advantage of this right away.”

Board member Sally Martell said she wondered if the public would be in agreement with the policy change, given that nonresident families don’t pay taxes to the district.

“We represent the taxpayers,” she said.

Board member Jennifer Edmonds said the policy might help with teacher retention.

“I would think if they would like to be here, it would be a positive educational move for their child to come here,” Edmonds said.

Board President Justin Caldwell agreed that the policy could help with teacher retention.

“If you live in an area where your school is maybe not on the best list, and that’s where you live, but you want [your child] to come here, it would help for retention,” he said.

Principal Evan Tingley said he is aware of two employees who took advantage of the district’s state waiver in the past, including a science teacher and a security guard.

Tingley said the question of nonresident admission for the children of employees comes up in prospective teacher interviews “quite often.”

“It’s something a lot of schools have,” Tingley said. “I can’t imagine we would have more than five to 10 kids this would impact. … I would think the scope would be pretty small.”

Vosberg said he doesn’t expect a large number of new students due to the policy, which might require the hiring of new teachers.

“The equity piece would be – they are not paying property taxes in this district,” he said. “They are paying in their own district.”