The Inter-District School Choice Program
The inter-district school choice program allows a parent to enroll his or her child in a school district that is not the child's home district. Because of space limitations, not all school districts accept out-of-district students under this program. Every year the school committee in each school district decides whether it will accept new enrollments under this program and, if so, in what grades. The school district profiles page on the Department's website shows, for each district, whether they are accepting school choice students.
If you are interested in having your child attend school in another district under this program and that district is accepting students, you should contact the superintendent's office in the district in which you want to enroll your child. It is advisable to contact districts in advance, generally during the winter or spring prior to the year in which you want to enroll your child. Districts generally require the submission of an application. If more students apply than there are spaces available, the district will hold a lottery to select which students will be admitted. If a district has fewer applicants than it has seats for school choice students, it may choose to accept students at any time during the school year. A sibling of a child currently attending school in another district under school choice will receive preference in the admissions lottery.
Your home district does not have to approve your child's application for admission to another district. Your child is eligible to apply for the school choice program in another district even if your home district is not accepting enrollment through school choice.
Once your child is accepted into another district under school choice, he or she is entitled to attend that district's schools until high school graduation. You do not have to reapply each year.
Transportation is not provided for students attending another school district under this program. You are responsible for getting your child to and from the school.
For additional general information about the inter-district school choice program, contact the Department's.
So, how much does Narragansett Regional School District report they spend educating each student; the pupil cost?
How much does the district receive for each out of district student (school choice students)
If you receive say $5,000.00 from the state for each student of school choice but you report spending say $11,000.00 per student to educate them, how does it make economical sense to participate in accepting students from school choice, which seems to be up to the school committee. Does accepting students from outside the district equate to having larger numbers of students in the class room? Does accepting students from outside the district have an effect on the number of teachers and teacher aids (para-professionals) required to be hired, which in turns adds to the cost of operating the district, which can cause increases to Towns school assessment charges - tax payer dollars.
Ask around and you might find out that accepting school choice students does NOT benefit taxpayers in Templeton. That money is not spent on reducing the assessment for Templeton.
ReplyDeleteIn 2017 it appears the net per pupil coming to Narragansett was about $5827(look under district summary- then Narragansett.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.doe.mass.edu/finance/schoolchoice/choice17.html
Districts have the option of whether to accept students through school choice or not. But no public system can deny families from leaving, nor can they avoid the annual $5,000 per pupil tuition they .....owe to districts that receive their students.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you put out questions like how much is this or that ? I mean that stuff is easy enough to find online or are you just implying that someone or something is stealing money from Templeton ... again .
ReplyDeleteJust fyi, to the best of my knowledge, no one has taken money ever. Bad management became public knowledge when there was no one to hide it any longer. I do believe Templeton 's financial problems have been bad for years before the "missing money" came to light. Money was not missing because it was never there. Bev.
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ReplyDelete$12,807 Looks to be the per pupil -11.9% lower than comparable districts Data > dept elementary and secondary education please correct me if I’m wrong
Pretty,
DeleteFrom Dr Casavants numbers on the slide show it shows $20,028,221 as the 2018 number which would be $16,376.30 per templeton/phillipston student totaling 1223. Even adding the school choice without finding brings the average to $14,075 per student
If I understand it correctly we then add 200 school choice kids and additional 1.1 million or so for the total budget.
I to need some better understanding of the entire school choice funding. It seems foolish as presented to take any school choice students.
How many students do you think Bob will leave the district thereby taking their 5,000 state $ up to ?? Who knows for IEP Special Ed or - private schools perhaps ? 10’s of thousands as I understand it ( town is mandated to pay this ) If this district is not funded appropriately? Is 30:1 in a class is that ok with Templeton ?
DeleteTempleton —— has has a substantial increase family’s with children moving into our town.
This town as far as I can see balanced budgets with “ free cash” didn’t ^ prop tax as needed to keep an artificially low tax bill ( relying on old industry etc ) So, now it’s up to the leaders of our town to step up expain and lobby for the town and it’s future.
Boilerplate,
DeleteWhen it cost $15,000 per student can you please explain the math? We are now providing education to 200 school choice students. How much extra does the school get per student?
Does the school get $5,000 per student plus the students state portion of the sending schools money?
Also ( same data source ) $1,648 capital layout and debt service per student
ReplyDelete15% Less than comparable districts Again correct me if my numbers are inaccurate or just flat out wrong
Thats not including the $47 million dollar school that Templeton is funding independently of the district correct?
DeleteThat funding alone would crush the 15% figure...............
Bob - Respectfully those numbers you have are misleading - example the school is not a district project it’s a town of Templeton project Templeton voted for it they understand that ( I did ) and if one pays attention to the school budget - They ( district ) have been underfunded for years - * base numbers. I am not a professional so I would urge all who want to understand the budget to go to : YouTube TCTV and watch yourself - The presentation done I thought was very well done and well within reasonable asks . Phillipston if I’m not mistaken stated ( finace ) is ok with a 2.8% increase - Phillipston pays more per pupil out of their tax rate than Templeton as well.
DeleteSorry for typos
DeleteBoilerplate,
DeleteNon of my numbers include the new school......... The 20,028,221 is 7.2 from Templeton, 1.1 million from phillipston and 12 million from the state. Total budget is $20,028,211. The present proposal is $485,000 more.
In 2012 we had more students 1466 and templetons share of the Narragansett budget was $4,663,728.00. Thats a 38% increase in 6 years. The recommended number for Templeton amounts to a 6.7% increase for Templeton residents.
It's not a 2.8% increase in the towns shares. It's a 2.8% overall increase on the $20,028,221 million. Like I said above. The increase for Templeton taxpayers would be a 6.7% increase.
Thankyou I meant to convey Phillipston Finance was ok with a 2.8% increase ... again I don’t want to misrepresent or be misleading - all the info is on line and avail on YOUTUBE TCTV and as always attend and ask questions . Thankyou
DeleteI do remember hearing them say that. I can truly understand why. When you look at the most generous proposal made by Dr C it only raised Phillipstons portion by a little for whatever reasoning in the breakdown...
DeleteAbsolutely, show up at the BOS budget meeting coming up. Show up on March 21 for the next SC meeting on the budget.
Just because one is not present at the meetings of course doesn’t mean one is not engaged. My wife and I have lived in this town (Templeton) my entire life 53 years - never had any children (she is from Phillipston originally) I/We understand both sides and as far as I am concerned. I have a great deal of respect for the School Committee as it is currently made up as well as the Super - I /We will lobby for the school and for the town of Templetons other needs. I also have great respect for the Phillipston Finance dept for doing a great job explaining and conveying to their residents the need .... for education as a priority.
DeleteAs was stated in the video Phillipston did address the needs for an appropriate tax levy a few years ago - as they saw then the needs coming down the road. Templeton thought the light in that tunnel was the exit it was actually the train.
I cannot deny that Templeton went off the rails...........Even so, people have limits. It seems like the pain levels are going to be tested unfortunately.
DeleteThe method or manner in which schools are funded needs to change. We cannot have an entity with a budget almost of identical size as the Towns increasing at 6.7% when our taxes can only rise 2.5 per year without overrides. We cannot just keep throwing money at schools hoping for them to improve.
I agree and there is legislation in the state House now to address funding issues - especially transportation- which is even worse per mile for us out here than in other regionalized districts I would argue. Yes, what a town votes for and what a town shows up for - civic engagement and comprehension ( things I learned in Narragansett back in the day ) will be tested again.
DeleteNot blaming or looking back. But learning from mistakes is needed and Templeton needs to step up if they want a vibrant young community.
Comments by Mrs Farrell “ ..then it be cheaper for the town of Templeton to outsource the students to other districts “ is not a thoughtful response. Nor I would argue infer that some nefarious shell game is being played as all that does is put out more mistrust in the process. Her comment is being singled out because it’s my understanding she is in the school system ( another district ) herself as a Librarian.
This is the state we live in and enjoy doing so I presume. That said this is how the funding is done if one doesn’t like it - take to the phones , lobby etc and most important vote.
Boilerplate 2:44
DeleteThe District is not underfunded. It has actually been overfunded even when the local Committee members have said the opposite.
It's all searchable on the DESE website.
Anonymous PM, I pose the question in hopes it would inspire other people to look it up and perhaps comment on what they find. It just may cause you to be involved.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2 07 - with respect our Town is in a pickle and I would really like to discuss issues without putting insults into it . Respectfully
ReplyDeleteThankyou Jeff
ReplyDeleteJeff how much per pupil in Templeton v Phillipston ( per capita ) ?
ReplyDeleteOk. So if the school district receives $5000 for each school choice student that elects to come to NRSD and the cost per pupil is $11,000 or $12,807 (cost per pupil is based on previous year enrollment figures - October 1st I believe) then it becomes pretty clear that it would be cheaper for the Town of Templeton to outsource its students to other districts to the tune of $5,000/per student than to have Templeton students remain in the Narragansett regional School District./s
ReplyDeleteIt's all a very elaborate shell game because the Commonwealth of Massachusetts lacks the funds to adequately fund education in Massachusetts. So it comes up with "School Choice" which pits school districts against each other for students. No one wins!
From DESE:
"School Choice Tuition Rates Download Excel Document are calculated for regular and vocational programs. FY17 school choice tuition rates are set at 75 percent of the FY16 operating cost per full-time equivalent pupil for the receiving school district, with a cap of $5,000. All districts are now at that cap. In addition, the actual special education cost for each pupil with an individualized education plan is paid in full by the sending district. That amount is determined using the same rate methodology for specific services as is used in the special education circuit breaker program."
Much better to pay $400,000 for bleachers out of E&D so E &D will be depleted thus necessitating the cry for an override!
I was trying to wrap my head around what DR C was saying about school choice, but kept hearing the same thing. Our school buildings and grounds get used 15% more with no additional funding for it. The concept appears to be that the base students(taxpayers) pay the freight on B&G. It seems like in Templeton right now that means about $1.1 million for staff to cover an additional 9 classrooms of 22.
DeleteAs Boilerplate or Pretty pointed out it skews our numbers downward also when we carry about 14% "choice" students. it would appear to make us look underfunded.
E&D money as alluded to above is ... applied to the overall 2.8% budget - GO to 54 min in video YOUTUBE and DR C discusses this at length and accurately for the law chapt 71 sec 16b1/2 :
Deletehttps://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section16B1~2 Do your homework and go to meetings if not .. follow on YOUTUBE and send emails to the committee /board .
Templeton priority ? Jeff budget says 1/2 seniors MEALS on WHEELS gone ? So 17/2 = 8.5 people will not have food . Great management . Disgusted with this town . I’m 72 ! And have been lucky to have this when I was sick once It made all the difference! For me . I started reading all the comments here about the school ! Disgusted that we can’t seem to even agree on giving our children a decent education. I go see what out TA says about our money and this !
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:40pm. Meeting of concern if you / others can attend or perhaps record
ReplyDeleteCouncil on Aging
16 Senior Dr., Baldwinville
TEMPLETON COUNCIL ON AGING Stephen Brewer Senior Community Center 16 Senior Dr, Baldwinville, MA
Tuesday, March 6, 2017
1:30PM
AGENDA:
Call to Order
Pledge
Attendance
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Review minutes of February 6, 2017 meeting 2. Correspondence
3. Update on Friends activities
NEW BUSINESS
1. Calendar
2. Nominating Committee – new members and officers 3. Meals on Wheels
4. Discuss vans and routes
5. Senior Center hours
Any other business that may come before the Board