For years, many students who live in Caycuos have transferred into and attended Morro Bay High School. Last week, a trio of coastal San Luis Obispo County school districts brought some resolution to the issue by striking a deal permanently allowing the transfers and creating a cost-sharing system.

On Feb. 8, the Coast Unified School District board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Cayucos Elementary School District and the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. The latter two districts had already approved the agreement.

The deal allows Coast Unified high school students who live in Cayucos to attend Morro Bay High. Also, middle school students who reside in one of the three districts can now attend schools in any of the three districts.

Previously, residents of Cayucos were supposed to attend Coast Unified High School in Cambria, as Cayucos has no high school and the prior agreement predated the existence of Morro Bay High. The addition of Morro Bay High, which is located closer to Cayucos than Coast Unified, has prompted many parents to send their children to the neighboring city to the south.

San Luis Coastal sought compensation for accepting Cayucos residents at Morro Bay High.

Under the new agreement, the home school district of a transfer student will send the amount of funding the student generates plus 25 percent to the district in which the pupil attends school. In the case of Cayucos residents attending Morro Bay High, San Luis Coastal will receive a total of $10,890 per student, according to the agreement.

The agreement between the three school districts will take effect in the 2018-2019 school year. The funding scheme will take full effect in 2020-2021. During the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, districts will receive partial compensation for the inter-district transfer students they accept.