Overcrowding

Either the Ministry or the board may become concerned about potential overcrowding at the school and may initiate discussions with the other party.

When the Ministry believes that there is or is likely to be overcrowding at a school, the Manager National Operations will notify the board of this in writing.  The board must then develop an enrolment scheme to avoid overcrowding.

It is important to understand, however, that the need to avoid overcrowding does not take precedence over the rights of enrolment which are guaranteed to in zone students.  This means that the board must determine a roll figure around which it can manage overcrowding while at the same time providing for the enrolment of all students who apply for enrolment from within the home zone. When the board draws up a home zone, it must do so with the capacity of the school in mind.  Any board which is at all in doubt about the Ministry’s assessment of its school’s capacity should contact the Ministry District Property Office in the area.

The Ministry will not approve the use of the term “maximum roll” in a scheme because that implies that nobody will be enrolled above the stated figure, including in zone students who have an absolute right to enrol under the legislation.  For the same reason, the Ministry will not approve any attempt to specify maximum class sizes at certain levels, though schools, of course, may develop administrative practices relating to school organisation which are appropriate for them, so long as they accommodate the right of home zone students to enrol at the school.

An enrolment scheme is meant to be a tool which enables a board to prevent overcrowding at its school.  The board has to remember that students living within the home zone have an absolute right to be enrolled.  The board should not, therefore, enrol so many out of zone students that the capacity of the school is exceeded if, at a later date, students living in the home zone claim their right to be enrolled.  The Ministry of Education will not look favourably on a request for additional classroom accommodation in such a situation.  Given the purposes of an enrolment scheme, it is illogical to automatically increase capacity to satisfy demand.  If, however, there is a sudden roll surge that could not reasonably have been predicted, the Ministry will assess the situation on a case by case basis.

Offering places to out of zone students

In some areas, schools have found that a late surge in applications from in-zone students has seriously taxed the capacity of the school.  This has mainly occurred in secondary schools.  The Ministry recommends that boards should be cautious and prudent in offering places to out of zone students and points out that;

• although parents have to be informed of the outcome of the ballot within three school days, this does not mean that all out of zone places have to be offered at this point;
• in secondary schools in particular it may be prudent to offer only a restricted number of places immediately after the ballot and to hold off allocating others until the in-zone picture is clear;
• in situations where experience has shown that the in-zone environment is especially volatile, it might be necessary to create only a waiting list of out of zone students as a result of the ballot and offer places at a later date, possibly as late as January, in some cases.

The Ministry would want to assist schools which have experienced unforeseen roll growth, but will first need to see evidence that schools have adopted a policy of restraint similar to those suggested above.