Asst. Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen writes in…

Tuition has been re-opened for the 2011-2012 school year. Families with students considering a regular program for grades 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 may submit materials by May 20.

http://www.csdecatur.net/tuition/

CSD uses tuition to fill in classes where we have already paid for a teacher, so this serves as a helpful source of revenue. Folks may be interested in why 3rd grade has tuition openings; that is due to the Board allowing parents of rising third grade students that meet certain eligibility requirements to remain at their home school for one more year as Glennwood Elementary opened. This required the hiring of another teacher, so we now have a few openings.

Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen writes in to let us know that the City Schools of Decatur have opened their tuition process for the 2011-2012 school year to interested non-CSD residents during the month of March.

If you’re not a resident of the city, but wish to enroll your children at CSD for $611/month, CLICK HERE for instructions on how to navigate the process.

Of course there is this caveat…

It is difficult to predict if specific grade levels or programs will have any openings. Tuition applications will be accepted for all grades Kindergarten-grade 12. All applications will be processed using the criteria described below.

If I remember correctly, since all the Elementary Schools were at capacity this past year, few if any tuition students were accepted.  But perhaps the 4/5 Academy opening this fall will change that for the coming year.

Included in a “Memorandum of Understanding” between the City Schools of Decatur and the city of Decatur primarily focused on the joint maintenance facility that will be built at Talley Street in the coming months is an agreement between the two parties that CSD will “set aside ten spaces for use by non-resident City employees at the same tuition rate as children of CSD teachers.”

According to a letter from City Manager Peggy Merriss (page 59 of the meeting materials) to the City Commission the agreement will “address a long-standing request by our employees to be able to send their children to City Schools of Decatur and will provide a recruitment and retention incentive for our employees.”

That is indeed a good incentive!