Committee Shoots Down School Choice for Algonquin

Despite committee member Paul Butka's insistence that should give School Choice a try, the rest of the again voted to reject to adopt the program.

"We always talk about School Choice and always put it off for another year and another year," said Butka, "and I think until we bring kids in and try it we’ll never know. We have this belief that adding five kids into the 1,400 school system would change the class sizes. I find the math impossible to even calculate. I think both of our communities are all over us in ways to save money. If we picked up five or six or 10 kids, we show an alternate source to pick up income other than from the taxpayers' pockets."

Lynne Winter, who was just voted vice chair of the Regional School Committee that evening, responded: "It’s a nice idea in theory but when put into practice it’s not as beneficial as it looks."

"We already don't have enough teachers," added Chair Shirley Lundberg.

A public hearing was held before the vote. No one in the audience offered feedback.

School Choice, which would allow a fixed number of students outside the district to apply to attend Algonquin, would also garner up to $5,000 per student from the state if implemented. Charles Gobron, superintendent of schools, said that currently the expenditure per student exceeds $13,000.

Adding a small number of students wouldn't change the median amount of expenditure per student, said Gobron.

"If one student came into a class, it really wouldn't add a significant cost," he said.  "Following that logic, if we accepted three freshmen and three sophomores, it is unlikely that it would significantly change the expenses of the school, and $30,000 would be gained."

If School Choice is not voted on by June 1 each school year, it is automatically enrolled in the district. Algonquin has historically rejected it, as it did Wednesday.

Last year, a subcommittee formed to study the impact of School Choice, recommending to the board before the vote that they not adopt it. The committee studied the option thoroughly, and citing several reasons, determined that it would be more risky than beneficial to adopt School Choice at this time. The primary reason given by comittee members was that it may affect an already stretched class size-teacher ratio.

"Our study examined School Choice with respect to current and future enrollments," said Christine Johnson, assistant superintendent and member of the subcommittee to study School Choice.

Johnson added that though the committee recommended not to participate, they do want to revisit discussions about the possibility.

"We'll never do this if we think this way all the time," said Butka, "and maybe the communities don't want it, but I know they want us to find revenue from other places than their pockets, and we're passing that up."