WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Midway and Lorena ISD opened up their out-of-district transfer applications Monday, waiving their fees for the first time as public schools across the state see a drop in enrollment.
At Midway ISD, transfer application fees normally cost $1,000. At Lorena ISD, the fee is $1,400 for a family’s first student and $700 for every student after. By waiving these fees their hope is to bring in more transfer students.
“Families have a lot of choice in education now and Midway should be and can be at the top of that choice for families, and so we don’t want a fee to be a barrier,” said Emily Parks, director of communications at Midway ISD.
For public schools enrollment is vital, the state funding them based on the number of students they serve.
Midway ISD averages about $6,100 to $6,200 per student, Parks said. At Lorena ISD, students bring in anywhere from $6,200 to $6,500, according to Chief Financial Officer Jeff Linnsteadter.
“You tie that to a basic allotment that’s been relatively fixed over the last six years… inflation came, payroll increases came, benefits/costs increases came, and the students just weren’t coming at that rates that I think the legislature originally anticipated,” Linnsteadter explained.
This past school year, Texas public schools lost more than 76,000 students. Both Midway and Lorena ISD saw that drop in enrollment.
“What we are seeing is there’s been a decline in the birth rate and overall in school enrollment,” Parks said. “Not just public but private, homeschool, overall is going down.”
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“We’re graduating larger senior classes and enrolling smaller kindergartner classes,” Linnsteadter further explained.
This enrollment decline has forced their districts to find ways to be more efficient with their money.
“We really put everything on the table. What things could be cut, what things could be added, how do we continue doing what we’re doing to achieve our results and to provide the level of education that we do for our children, but also provide access to families at the same time,” Parks said.
Both districts decided that dropping their transfer application fee is the best way to do that, hoping it will bring more students and therefore more funding to the district.
“It’s just the nature of where public education is headed and we’re competing with our friendly neighbors for the same students and the same funding,” Linnsteadter said.
For parents like Amy Seeger, who transferred her four kids to Midway ISD, the ability to send them to their preferred school district at no extra cost is an amazing opportunity.
“Everybody wants to pick what’s best for their child, and I think removing that thousand dollar tuition amount gives you an opportunity to invest in another way, so it’s quite a gift,” Seeger shared.
Transfer applications for the 2026-2027 school year can be found on each district’s website. Applications will be accepted on a first come, first serve and case by case basis.
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