Concern Grows Over C-K Students Attending Out-of-District Schools

The public comment portion of school board meetings gives citizens the chance to bring issues to the board’s attention, and at its Sept. 13 meeting, the Claysburg-Kimmel School Board learned of a concern about district students enrolling in other schools to play sports.

Claysburg resident Chris Burket told the board that there are multiple families in the district who are sending one of their kids to a neighboring school district while a sibling attends Claysburg.

“Most of these instances are because of extra-curricular activities,” Burket said.

Burket said the daughters of these families are staying at Claysburg because of its “state-ranked” softball team and FBLA, while the sons attend a neighboring district for football and wrestling.

Burket pointed out that Claysburg-Kimmel’s enrollment numbers have been on the decline in recent years and allowing students to attend a school that is not their home district further lowers the numbers.

“These actions by these families are helping to contribute to the declining enrollment numbers,” he said.

Burket said the issue isn’t exclusive to Claysburg and that there are students who reside outside the district attending Claysburg schools.

“This also impacts their school districts with their funding as well,” he said.

Burket said the families are using the elementary and high school programs like they are “picking and choosing” a college for their kids to attend, depending on the state of the school’s athletic programs instead of looking at the education the child should be receiving.

Burket said he has been contacted by people who live outside of the Claysburg-Kimmel School District about the issue.

“There is talk going around and everyone wonders what is going on, and why it is going on,” he said. “How are these people getting away with it?”

Burket said he understand that looking into the issue can be a gray area, but “something needs to be done about it.” He said it has been going on for years, with most people including himself, turning a blind eye to it.

“I feel lately these instances are becoming more and more commonplace because nothing has been done about it,” he said.

Burket said although he feels sports are important, the focus should be on education.

In other business, the board approved a request from the Altoona Blair County Development Corp. (ABCD) to grant a Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) for a yet to be identified business that is exploring moving into the Marasco Business Park.

The KOZ program is an economic development program designed to stimulate investment, economic growth, and employment in the state for development and revitalization.

According to Matthew Fox, director of business expansion for ABCD Corp., the Marasco Business Park was put into the KOZ program when it was dedicated and during that time real estate taxes were abated. Fox said the original resolution will extend the KOZ on the undeveloped ground at the park for seven years beginning January 2024. Fox said the parcel will be added back to the tax rolls during the extension period until an occupancy permit is issued, at which time the parcel will come off the tax rolls for the remainder of the seven-year period.

Through KOZ, the cost of doing business can be significantly reduced through exemptions and tax waivers for a period, in this case seven years. Fox said the KOZ program incentivizes a company to invest into a community.

Board member Craig Burket said he is not opposed to granting the KOZ resolution but would like to see any new business that benefits from it to support the school district in other ways.

“I am pro-business I want business to come here,” he said. “We want jobs, but this is a nice freebee for seven years so maybe they can show their support by buying t-shirts or something.”

Although the district will “lose out” on seven years of tax revenue, the board recognized that in the long-term, having a new business will benefit the district and unanimously voted to accept the KOZ resolution.