'Choice' towns decry school plan
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Vermonters packed a Statehouse meeting room Wednesday night ot express their views on school consolidation. |
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: March 11, 2010
MONTPELIER – A public hearing on school-district consolidation turned into a referendum on school choice as scores of residents decried legislative proposals they fear will undermine parents' control over their children's education.
More than 200 parents, educators and students crowded into a Statehouse meeting room Wednesday evening to weigh in on legislative efforts to reduce the number of school districts in Vermont. By and large, they condemned a plan they say looks to cut costs by constraining choice.
"I come to you today as a father and educator with serious concern about what has been proposed in this legislative body," Roberto Abele, a Kirby resident, told members of the House and Senate committees on education.
Like many – perhaps most – of the residents in attendance, Abele lives in one of the 90 Vermont towns that does not belong to a school district with either a high school, middle school or elementary school. Parents in those so-called "choice" towns can send their children to public or independent schools of their choosing. Abele's daughter attends an independent school, Rivendell.
Legislative proposals to merge small towns like Kirby into larger districts, Abele worried, would take away the school choice he currently enjoys.
"The redistricting proposal … will take away my daughter's choice and force her to attend one of the public schools," he said. "This is regressive legislation that will create a giant step backward for Vermont's educational system."
Vermont has more school boards than it does towns, an oddity of its one-room schoolhouse past that spotlights what some believe is a cumbersome and inefficient system of school governance. And as Vermont looks to control education spending, elected officials are now eyeing district consolidation as a way to decrease school expenses.
Sen. Robert Hartwell, a Bennington Democrat, has written legislation that would shrink the public school system into 16 supervisory union districts statewide. With the effects of a sour economy compounding the impact of education funding on Vermont taxpayers, he said, the school governance system is ripe for change.
Consolidating schools into fewer districts, he said, would allow districts to share services, reduce administrative and other costs, and improve educational opportunities for students.
Rep. Peter Peltz, a Woodbury Democrat who sits on the House Education Committee, said he believes there are merits to district consolidation. However the "top-down" approach favored by Hartwell, he said, won't fly with Vermont residents, nor will it necessarily result in effective governance structures.
Peltz is drafting legislation that encourages districts to consolidate voluntarily by providing financial incentives for doing so.
Many residents testifying Wednesday, however, said any attempt to consolidate districts – and fold "choice" towns into new districts – would limit the number of educational options now available to their children.
"To have the state determine which school is best for my children … is not appropriate," said Nancy Blessing, a Pittsfield resident whose child attends The Sharon Academy. "I am positive no one wants the state to choose which hospital you have to go to. I want school choice without geographic boundaries."
The Sharon Academy – an independent school that draws revenue from tuitioned students from about 30 towns – was well represented Wednesday. The school's livelihood depends largely on the choice-town system that allows students in those towns to attend the academy much as they would a public school.
"My husband and I relocated our family and our small businesses to Stockbridge so our daughter could attend the Sharon Academy," said Deborah Aldrich.
Not only would Hartwell's redistricting plan affect her child individually, she said, it would eliminate the choice that schools like The Sharon Academy rely on to draw students and support budgets.
"If the number of towns with (school choice) is reduced, the survival of independent schools will be reduced," Aldrich said. "The current tuition policy is one of the most attractive things about rural Vermont."
Peltz's proposal earned some praise, mostly from school administrators who have previously engaged in local consolidation efforts.
Tom O'Brien is superintendent at the Addison Northwest Supervisory District which, on Town Meeting Day, saw its member districts vote to consolidate their disparate boards into a single governing entity. That effort succeeded, O'Brien told lawmakers, because it was led by local citizens, not by a centralized state government.
"I strongly support the voluntary merger language in Peter Peltz's proposal and I do not support the top-down approach being presented in (Hartwell's) bill," O'Brien said.
A consolidation mandate from Montpelier, he said, would result in a chaotic system with little public support.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, a Stowe Republican, has authored a consolidation proposal in the House that is virtually identical to Hartwell's. She said the consternation expressed by residents Wednesday is based on "false information."
For students in the 90 choice towns, she said, the legislation can include language that would maintain their current choice. And for students in the majority of Vermont towns, which send their students to designated public schools, she said, larger districts would enhance school choice, not limit it.
Scheuermann said the state's huge number of schools districts – there are about 280 – is having a devastating effect on costs. Modernizing the system in a way that allows smaller schools to share services, personnel, technology and contract negotiations, she said, will result in better educational outcomes at less cost.
While many residents Wednesday questioned whether larger districts would actually cut costs, representatives from the Vermont Association of School Business Officials said their recent analysis shows significant potential for savings.
The State Board of Education has touted district consolidation as necessary ingredient for cost-containment and education quality. Commissioner of Education Armando Vilaseca said Wednesday that the Challenges for Change process, which will look to shave $51 million from education costs in Vermont, will almost certainly result in a recommendation for district consolidation. Vilaseca said he's unsure whether the Challenges exercise will result in a new redistricting proposal, or an endorsement of one of the legislative plans now under consideration.
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