Princeton will welcome out-of-district tuition students

Three-year moratorium to end for cash-strapped district

By: Rachel Silverman
   After a three-year moratorium, the Princeton Regional School District is now set to begin granting out-of-district students enrollment at Princeton High School.
   But at $14,000 a head, registration will not come cheap for what the district refers to as "tuition students."
   In fact, as Superintendent Judy Wilson told members of the district’s Program Committee last week, this arrangement could create an important revenue stream for the district.
   "I’d like not to turn people who can contribute to the school away," Ms. Wilson said. "It provides a very considerable source of revenue for us."
   The moratorium had been imposed as an "internal practice out of necessity," while high school expansion and renovation were under way, Ms. Wilson explained.
   "During the construction years, we were very cautious about class size," she said. "Trailers are not the same as regular classes."
   But now, with many pieces of the overhaul drawing to a close, Ms. Wilson said lifting the ban makes sense.
   To err on the side of caution, however, the district will aggressively cap its enrollment pool.
   "I think we could easily handle five students per class," Ms. Wilson said. "We remain in full control of this."
   The $14,000 figure comes from the state Department of Education, which calculates tuition rates based on line items in the budget. All high school students outside Princeton Borough, Princeton Township and Cranbury would be subject to these fees, although children of district employees maintain a separate financial arrangement.
   Ms. Wilson said the district plans to market the enrollment opportunity through newspapers and the Web, and that several requests have already been logged.
   The application process will involve a basic interview and review of academic records, Ms. Wilson said. If there are more applicants than slots available, the district would adopt a "decision-making matrix," she said.
   The district has said it is strapped for cash, largely because of Senate bill S-1701, which has tightened budget caps on all New Jersey school districts.
   Ms. Wilson said the district would continue to look for innovative sources of funding as the budget process heats up. For example, she said the district would consider running professional-development seminars during the summer.