A Windfall for Developers?

This summer, the Iowa City Community School District adopted a policy under which some families who move into a not-yet-built neighborhood outside the district are “guaranteed” the right to transfer into a particular set of schools in our district.  Specifically, families who move into Ryan Circle in the Clear Creek Amana district during the next five years are guaranteed the right to attend Borlaug Elementary, Northwest Junior High, and West High School, apparently for as long as they remain in that neighborhood, until they graduate from high school.

The policy applies to a handful of lots at the end of Ryan Circle in the Cardinal Ridge neighborhood, although it explicitly states that the guarantee might someday be extended to future Cardinal Ridge developments in Clear Creek Amana as well.  Ryan Circle is very close to Borlaug School, and most of the road is in our district, so it’s easy to see how a guaranteed transfer into our district would be a valuable selling point for that portion of the road that lies outside our district.

I’m puzzled by the district’s decision to single out a small group of out-of-district properties for special treatment.  Those of us who live in the district receive no guarantees that we will remain in any given attendance area from one year to the next.  Nor, to my knowledge, have any other out-of-district areas been given guarantees that they can transfer into the district at all, much less to a specific school.  Moreover, the district has put a moratorium on in-district transfers into West High, because of capacity concerns.  Why would it simultaneously promise out-of-district families the right to transfer into West?

The policy also raises concerns because of the history of the development of Borlaug School.  When the district wanted to close Roosevelt School, it told the families who live in the Pheasant Ridge apartments that they would attend the soon-to-be-built Borlaug School.  Those assurances helped defuse community opposition to the closure of Roosevelt.  Later, however, the district decided that Pheasant Ridge would not be in the Borlaug attendance area after all – a decision that Pheasant Ridge families experienced as a betrayal.

Pheasant Ridge is a relatively low-income neighborhood; the lots in Cardinal Ridge are very expensive.  There was no room for Pheasant Ridge at Borlaug, despite the district’s previous assurances; but there is room for Cardinal Ridge families, even though they won’t live in the district.

Finally, the guarantee seems especially questionable given that the affected Ryan Circle homes have not yet even been built – the policy protects what are now vacant lots.  Any family who wants to be sure of attending our schools could simply choose not to buy there.  So does the guarantee benefit actual families, or just the developers of the affected land?

The policy appears on the district’s website under the tab for “Realtor Resources.”  I can see why realtors and developers will benefit from the policy, since they can now ask a higher price for those lots.  Did our district get anything in exchange for that benefit?  If not, then I don’t understand how this policy serves the people of the Iowa City School Community District.

Chris Liebig blogs about local and national school issues at A Blog About School.  You can also follow him on Twitter.