LAGRANGE – Earlier this week we ran a story on school choice that noted Lakeland Schools had the highest net losses of students among area districts.

A few of you responded and blamed that on the New Tech curriculum used at Lakeland.

We decided to look into whether or not other New Tech Network school districts in Indiana were seeing similar student transfers.

Some districts like DeKalb Central (-7.16%) Huntington County (-7.3%) and Goshen Community Schools (-5.27%) had numbers approaching Lakeland’s loss of 8.9% last Spring.

Others, like Lakeside Schools in Calumet (-4.4%) Bartholemew Consolidated in Columbus (-3.99%) and Rochester Community Schools (-3.62%), had significant but more modest net losses of students.

Still others, like Whitley County Consolidated Schools (-1.64%) and Tri-Creek Schools in Lowell (-1.65%), posted net losses of less than 2 percent.

One of the New Tech districts we looked at – Scott County District #2 in Scottsburg – had a net increase of six students.

You can draw your own conclusions but there certainly are many factors that determine whether a district is exporting students under Indiana’s School Choice system.