Decorah Interim School Board approves open enrollment to Mabel-Canton

The Interim Decorah Community School Board has approved an agreement with Mabel-Canton Schools that will allow for the open enrollment of certain resident Decorah area students into the Mabel-Canton Schools. The agreement comes after long discussions in the aftermath of the Decorah and North Winneshiek merger that will be completed this summer.

Decorah Community School District will pay the Mabel-Canton district the amount of state funding per student that it normally receives from the State of Iowa (about $7,000).

There are some limits to the agreement:

• Per state code, the student desiring open enrollment must live closer to the receiving district than the district to which they currently belong. (In effect, although this is a two way agreement, it will apply only to Decorah area students transferring out who live closer to a Mabel-Canton school than a Decorah school. The geography effectively eliminates the possibility of transfer into Decorah.)
• The agreement terminates as of June 20, 2024. The intent of the agreement was to allow a student who is currently in 7th grade to be able to complete high school graduation at Mabel-Canton. Although a student of a lower grade could attend Mabel-Canton until 2024, there is no guarantee the agreement will be extended beyond that date, possibly leaving parents with a decision about what attendance center is appropriate for to consider.

The Board also approved an application form for the open enrollment. It should be available online, or directly from the Decorah Community School District Central office on  Tuesday. The number of students expected to apply has been estimated at 20-25.