Bills would give towns increased school options
Toolbox
By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: March 30, 2009
Two bills are making their way through the Legislature that would give towns the authority to designate a public school as the school of choice for their students.
For towns such as Ira and Middletown Springs, where school budgets failed this year in part because of rising school tuition costs, the bills would provide another option for possibly reducing education costs and property taxes if made law.
The "small schools" bill, or S.127, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance and a similar bill proposed by the House's Committee on Education have received much more attention this year as school boards seek new ways to reduce education costs, according to Retta Dunlap, an advocate of school choice and author of the Vermont Education Report.
"It's not a new issue and it's not a new idea," said Dunlap, who contributed to the Senate's bill.
"We need schools that are sustainable … at some point, people start going ,'Ouch.'"
Current state law allows towns to designate an approved independent school as the school of choice for their students or join a school union.
But for some towns, without a school of their own, that's not an option because there isn't an independent school in the area.
The bills would allow a town such as Ira to choose one public school for their students and it would be the only school to which the town pays tuition.
Parents would have the option to enroll their child in another school at public cost with the amount of tuition paid by the district capped, according to the Senate bill.
Representative Mitzi Johnson, Democrat from Grand Isle County, introduced the house committee's bill after discussions she had with the South Hero Select Board.
"There is no way of controlling costs for high school tuition," Johnson said.
"The idea behind it is to put some sort of tool out there for communities like Ira, with no voice on a high school budget or high school tuition costs."
The Ira Town School Board, whose members don't have a seat at the table of any elementary or high school board in charge of its tuitioned students because the town doesn't have a school of its own, is considering the designation option for the future, according to Louis Milazzo, business manager for the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union.
"That's something the board would have to look into, lowering tuition costs or dropping their bill backs," he said. "The boards (Ira and Middletown Springs) are discussing designating a school to put some stability in their budgets and possibly lower costs."
Because of tuition bills from 14 different schools, Ira taxpayers were presented with a budget on Town Meeting Day that would have increased their property tax rate by more than 25 cents, due to anticipated tuition costs from schools to which the town sends its students.
In Middletown Springs, the board is getting billed for more tuition two years later — it received a bill of $62,100 this year, or about $2,000 more per student, because actual tuitions from 2008 were more than anticipated, Milazzo said.
For 2010, taxpayers are facing a spiked property tax rate to cover the rising costs.
Middletown Springs voters will weigh in on the school budget for the second time on April 29, according to Milazzo. The Ira School Board hadn't set a date for their re-vote as of last week.
But passing laws allowing towns to designate public schools to ease rising education costs raises many questions, according to Vaughn Altemus, education finance manager for the Vermont Department of Education.
Altemus said tuition rates are spiking more rapidly because declines in enrollment are accompanying increases in general school costs.
"How does it work for the district designating, the one accepting and for everybody else?" Altemus said.
For more information on school designation and to see a copy of the state department's latest report on it, go to education.vermont.gov or call 828-0471.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
13