Buford schools overwhelmed with applications

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Posted 1:38PM on Wednesday, May 21, 2003

BUFORD - Two separate controversies involving the Gwinnett County school system have hundreds of unhappy parents seeking to transfer their children to schools in the city of Buford. At the Buford school board meeting Monday, chairman Phillip Beard said the system has been deluged with applications from the parents who don't mind paying a tuition charge or drive their children to and from school as well as paying Gwinnett school taxes. The controversies involve the county's plan to open the new Sycamore Elementary School which was built between two landfills, and the investigation into the system's failure to report more than 24,000 disciplinary incidents as required annually by state law. "Were overwhelmed with applications. We're getting into the hundreds," said Beard, who did not have an exact number. "This credibility gap came out of the Gwinnett County school system because of Sycamore, and then the other statistics have gotten out," he said. The Buford city school system is separate from the county. It serves residents of the city of Buford and has four schools with about 2,100 students. Gwinnett county has 85 schools and 124,000 students. For the 2002-2003 school year, 180 students took part in the tuition-paid program offered in Buford. It does not include the children of teachers who are accepted. Citing the appeal of smaller classes (17-1 ratio), and better opportunities for their children to take part in activities and attend class in school buildings rather than trailers, parents said they were willing to pay $2,000 a year for the first child in the program and $1,500 for each child after that. On Monday, the board approved setting the nonrefundable tuition cost for nonresident students annually at the July meeting in accordance with the states Quality Basic Education Act. By then, the system will know more specifically how much room will be available for out-of-city enrollees. "I don't see any change at all in tuition policy," Beard said. "It's a fair policy and not a prohibitive policy."