White flight?

Madison Schools Superintendent Dan Nerad is taking action after a nearly 50 percent increase this year in the number of students seeking to transfer out of the school district under the state's open enrollment law.

Nerad says one reason for the jump could be the elimination of a school board policy that in the past had denied many of the requests based on race. The school board was seeking to limit racial inequalities in many schools. The policy was dropped in time for the 2008 open enrollment period, but it's elimination was more widely known about this year, according to Nerad.

MMSD received 643 requests this year from students seeking to transfer out, compared to 435 the year before.

Nerad suspects that most of the requests are from families with means. He says many families can not take advantage of the law since it requires families to provide their own transportation to their out-of-district school.

He plans to ask state lawmakers to allow the school board to block the transfers in the future based on family income level. He says it's important not to limit huge tips in the socio-economic balance in the city's schools.

Nerad says he's surveying families to determine why students are leaving the district. He says he'll use the results to create programs to retain and attract students.

About a third of the students who are leaving MMSD plan to attend the Verona schools, with Monona Grove, Middleton, and McFarland all reporting increases in transfers from Madison