The Hermiston Board of Education voted Monday night to accept zero students next school year under House Bill 3681, a law passed in the last state legislative session that allows students to attend schools in areas where they do not live.

The vote was unanimous. Interim Superintendent Wade Smith said regional schools already have a cooperative relationship that allows students to move between districts, with some caveats. 

House Bill 3681 is flawed, he said, because it provides little flexibility to districts in regards to program limitations or space. Districts must identify how many students they will take, and then accept students until they reach that number regardless of whether the student would enter a crowded program. 

In the present arrangement, districts are free to deny some students and accept others. Smith said the Hermiston School District usually honors parents request to enter or exit the school district. About 30 students from the Hermiston attend the Stanfield School District, for example, he said.

Smith added that most regional schools are of the same opinion. He said House Bill 3681 was fast-tracked through the Legislature as part of the governors education reform project.?But educators were not consulted on the language of the bill, he said.

To my knowledge, no school districts in our region has accepted students under House Bill 3681, he said. 

In other business, the board accepted several donations from area businesses and families. These included $10,000 from Tom Denchel Ford Country and Affiliates, $700 from Target Scholarship America and $840 from the Bob Kessie Memorial Fund. Bob Kessie was the lead custodian at Hermiston High School who died suddenly Jan. 24.