[A] new state ruling could eliminate school choice as an option for many districts considering mergers.
The State Board of Education last week clarified the school choice section of Act 46, the new education reform law that is urging the state’s small, town-based school boards to consider merging into larger governance units with at least 900 students.
Newly formed districts must offer choice to all pupils or require all students to attend the schools the district operates, according to a decision made by the board that reaffirms the intent of the state statute.
About a third of school districts in Vermont (94 of 277) offer school choice. Critics say the board’s all-or-nothing stance could make it difficult for those communities to continue the tradition of tuitioning students to other districts.
The board’s decision could slow down merger negotiations between districts at a time when many communities are rushing to consolidate school boards before June 2017 in order to qualify for tax incentives.
Cyrus Patten, executive director of Campaign for Vermont, a group that has called for the repeal of Act 46, said the board’s decision will slow down “a number of merger conversations.”
“It will throw a wrench in the gears of some towns trying to take advantage of the accelerated tax cuts,” Patten said.
The language in Act 46 around choice and non-choice district mergers is confusing. When Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union in Franklin County wished to combine school choice districts with non-choice ones they brought the question to the State Board of Education.
Initially, some members of a Vermont State Board of Education subcommittee wanted to allow merger study groups more latitude to build new governance structures, according Peter Peltz, who sits on the subcommittee.
But the State Board of Education, lawyers with Legislative Council and the general counsel for the Agency of Education determined that under Act 46, together with existing law Section 822 of Title 16, new districts either have to operate a school or tuition students.
“What we said was that we really should stick with the statute as written and not complicate matters,” Peltz said.
Patten says the decision “forces choice towns to give up choice or non-choice towns to go with choice.” While his organization isn’t anti-consolidation, it doesn’t like what it considers to be heavy-handed tactics by the state to get communities to merge.
“We are talking about merging as the goal like it’s the gold standard when we don’t have any evidence that suggests merging will solve our problems,” Patten said. “If a merger happens, that is all fine and great. We oppose forcing towns to consolidate simply because they are not big enough.”
Jason Gaddis lives in Windsor and has two children approaching high school age. Windsor, Hartland, Weathersfield and West Windsor have been studying merger options among the four towns. Gaddis believes the state board’s interpretation of Act 46 will end school choice in Vermont.
“They will strangle choice out of the system,” Gaddis said.
The Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union has looked at consolidating for a few years but the sticking point has been losing choice and having all students attend one high school. Students in West Windsor often choose to go to Woodstock Union High School instead of Windsor High School. If Windsor were to give students school choice, enrollment at the local high school might decrease.
WSSU Superintendent David Baker said the state board’s decision will further limit the options to merge. While Windsor operates a high school, the other three towns have choice.
“The state has made it clear that this would require us to ‘voluntarily’ stop paying tuition to other schools as long as we continue to operate a high school,” Baker said.
While choice and non-choice districts can’t consolidate into a school district they can coexist within a supervisory union. Baker said that he thinks they could form as an supervisory union side by side with one district unifying the three choice towns and the other — Windsor — with its operational high school.
“The problem is that you can’t propose that in year one as an accelerated proposal. So, we lose all incentives and live under the cap,” he said.
The cap limits what local school districts can spend over the next two years. There can’t be any budget increases in the highest spending districts while the lowest spending districts can increase budgets up to 5.5 percent. In 2017 and 2018 districts can spend as much as they want but tax rates will double for those that exceed the variable cap.
Another option would be for choice districts to consolidate with other choice districts that are not geographically adjacent.
“All the choice districts in the state could merge, in theory, to create one choice district,” Patten said.
The decision won’t end school choice in Vermont, Peltz says.
“It is up to the communities that want choice to bring it before us,” Peltz said. “We have been very protective about the 90 or so districts that have choice. We will fiercely defend it.”
There are 94 towns that tuition some or all grades in Vermont, and many are clustered together. Peltz says the challenge now is for people to think outside their normal school governance system.
“This is unsettling, it is a big deal to think about delivering education to your students and children in a different way than has been done for years,” Peltz said.