Cloverleaf looking to change open enrollment policy to adjacent districts

WESTFIELD TWP. — The Cloverleaf Board of Education approved the first reading of board policies that would change the district's open enrollment policy to adjacent districts only during the board's meeting Wednesday. Historically, Cloverleaf has an open enrollment policy that allowed any student from any school district in the state to enroll into Cloverleaf. The policy change would allow for only students from bordering districts like Black River, Buckeye, Medina and Wadsworth to enroll into the district. Families from non-adjacent districts who already attend Cloverleaf would still be allowed to attend. "I want to publicly re-emphasize that we have written a grandfather clause into the policy that gives preference to our currently open enrolled students, even if they are from a non-adjacent district, so long as they meet the times that we established," Superintendent Daryl Kubilus said. Cloverleaf staff members would still have the ability to enroll their children in the district, even if they are not from an adjacent district, he said. This can be done from a separate piece of the Ohio Revised Code that is not open enrollment. "We have communicated to all of our current open enrollment families to make sure that they are aware of those timeline obligations and that their students are Cloverleaf Colts, and they are welcome to continue with us," Kubilus said. The Board of Education previously had a discussion about open enrollment during a work session Feb. 4. At the meeting, Kubilus said September 2020 was the first time he had to stop open enrollment for the school year. "We had just opened the new school, and what we found was a lot of people started requesting open enrollment after the school year started to such a degree that we had reached capacity at several grade levels," he said. "I said, 'We need to stop open enrollment right now.' Otherwise, we are going to overburden our classrooms." Before the 2025-26 school, open enrollment applications were at an all-time high, and it had to be cut off again, Kubilus said. This year, Cloverleaf has 179 open-enrolled students, and 27 percent of them come from non-adjacent school districts. "Just within the past month, I've had inquiries to my email from people who have known me in the past trying to get relatives' friends open-enrolled into the district," he said. "I cannot open enroll them because if I accept even one open enrollee after I cut it off, I have to go back and allow everybody who's applied since July 1, 2025, and I just cannot do that." The financial situation with the state regarding open enrollment has also significantly changed within the last few years, Kubilus said. Before 2023, every time Cloverleaf brought in an open-enrolled student, $6,020 would be transferred from the state contribution of the district the student came from to Cloverleaf, he said. A change from the state legislature led to Cloverleaf not getting any additional funding for open-enrolled students starting in 2023. According to the Ohio Department of Education, if Cloverleaf decreases its open enrollment by more than 20 students per year, the state will take away $8,240 from the district's transitional aid guarantee, Kubilus said. "If we go down 30 students to 149 (students), we would still lose $82,000," he said. "The only way to not lose any money is to decrease by 20 or less, then you're held harmless." Kubilus said when a board of education makes a decision regarding open enrollment, the state board of education has final approval. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.