Fewer transfers means savings for DeKalb schools

By Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fewer students asking to transfer into Southwest DeKalb and Redan high schools this year gave DeKalb County officials a $1.2 million sigh of relief Monday.

The savings came as the system closed “annexes” for the two schools because of low enrollment. The annexes had been opened off-site to handle an expected overflow of students asking to transfer out of low-performing schools as allowed by federal law.

The money will go back into the system’s general operating fund, which like other Georgia systems has been battered by the recession and state funding cuts.

Students who did request transfers to Redan and Southwest DeKalb — 74 in all — will attend class on the main campuses of either school.

Officials said 19 employees, including 13 teachers, two assistant principals, two counselors and two secretaries, will be reassigned or offered jobs as available on other campuses.

One of the first and most visible penalties imposed by the nation’s No Child Left Behind Act allows students to transfer because a school repeatedly does not meet federal testing goals.

It’s a familiar refrain in DeKalb, which holds the distinction among all the state’s school systems of having received the most No Child-related transfer requests in one year.

That happened four years ago, when more than 1,500 students — three times what officials expected — swamped local campuses at the start of the year.

The resulting scramble gave officials a lasting lesson. They now offer a detailed plan that distributes transferring students either into designated “receiving” schools or school-affiliated “annexes” — such as those with Redan and Southwest DeKalb — located at sites in the north, central and south parts of the county.

The law forbids systems from capping the number of transfers flowing out of low-performing schools.

This year, 457 DeKalb students requested transfers under the law. Classes started Aug. 10.