By Becky Manley / Staff Writer

Citing a six-figure revenue loss to the district, officials from Knox County Public Schools have ended a long-standing non-resident reciprocal agreement with Corbin Independent School District.

The unanimous vote by the Knox district’s board of education was made Monday during a special called meeting, according to Knox Assistant Superintendent Kim Merida.

The end of the reciprocal agreement means that the 169 students who currently attend Corbin schools but live in the Knox district will either have to attend Knox schools beginning this fall or pay tuition to remain at Corbin, according to Corbin Assistant Superintendent Brenda Hammons.

Corbin district charges $1,200 tuition per year, Hammons said. The district does allow parents to establish a payment plan.

The primary reason the Knox board chose to ax the agreement with Corbin has to do with money, according to David Cole, public relations director for Knox County Public Schools.

Over the last few years, Cole said decreasing revenue has forced the Knox district to close a school, sell two buildings, and lay off 30 certified staff and about 15 classified staff. They have also eliminated vacant job positions.

As the state’s purse strings continue to remain tight, Cole said the board had to take a closer look at the impact of the reciprocal agreements.

For the current school year, the state pays school districts a base amount of $3,866 per student, Cole said.

Knox district forwards state money to Corbin for those Knox students who attend Corbin schools.

That means Knox has forwarded $653,354 to Corbin schools during the current school year.

During that same time, Corbin has sent $123,712 in state money to Knox for the 32 Corbin district students who attend Knox schools.

“In some districts, it’s (reciprocal agreements) a wash; there are as many students going both ways so it wouldn’t matter, but Corbin happens to be one that is skewed more to their favor than ours,” Superintendent Walter Hulett said in a written statement Cole provided.

“Corbin is offering a lot of extra programs with the additional money they’re getting from the Knox County Board of Education, while we have to reduce programs and not offer the same services we think would be as equally beneficial to our students,” Hulett said.

Prior to the vote by the Knox board, Cole said they considered a grandfather clause that would have allowed Knox students who currently attend Corbin schools to continue to do so, but it was decided that would be too complicated to track.

“So there’s no exception to this,” Cole said.

At Monday’s meeting, Cole said the board chose to continue its reciprocal agreements with Barbourville, Clay, Middlesboro, Pineville, Williamsburg and Whitley County districts.

Cole said there is a February 1 deadline for finalizing the reciprocal agreements each year.

The Knox district’s reciprocal agreement with Laurel County, which is a two-year agreement, wasn’t up for renewal this year and remains unchanged, Cole said.

Corbin officials have said they intend to maintain their reciprocal agreement with Knox County.

On Friday, Hammons echoed sentiments expressed by Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel during Thursday’s board meeting — that parents should be able to select their children’s school.

“We just feel like it’s a parent’s right,” Hammons said.

Hammons said Corbin maintains reciprocal agreements with other school districts, including Laurel County Schools, although that district doesn’t have a corresponding agreement with Corbin.

As of Friday morning, Knox officials had not notified Corbin about the vote to end the reciprocal agreement, Hammons said.

Becky Manley can be reached at bmanley@thetimestribune.com