Residents of the Kearsarge Regional School District will vote Saturday on a warrant article that would prevent their students from enrolling in other school districts at Kearsarge’s expense.
The district’s voters will be the first in the region to act since a major state Supreme Court ruling last fall paved the way for the proliferation of open enrollment across the state. The court ruled that districts must pay tuition when their residents enroll students in another public school system, even if the home district has not adopted an open enrollment policy itself.
A quirk in the law paradoxically allows districts that adopt open enrollment provisions to set the percentage of students who can leave at zero, curtailing parents’ choice and safeguarding against taxpayers paying for unpredictable tuition expenses.
Kearsarge leaders have proposed adopting this approach, and other district administrators have indicated they expect to follow suit in the coming weeks.
“We need to do something to protect ourselves financially from lots of students deciding to leave the district when we’re not set up in a situation budgetary-wise to handle that,” Alison Mastin, the chair of Kearsarge’s school board, said in an interview.
If approved, the warrant article would designate Kearsarge Regional High School as an open enrollment school. The district does not currently have any students who attend any of the three open enrollment schools in the state — Prospect Mountain High School and Franklin Middle and High School — so the decision would not affect anyone already enrolled elsewhere.
Kearsarge’s warrant article would also allow up to 30 students who reside outside of the seven-town regional school district to enroll at the high school. Those students’ home districts would be required to pay Kearsarge tuition under the law.
Mastin said that Kearsarge does not plan to seek out new students but would accept them if they express interest.
Depending on how many school districts follow suit and the fate of a bill under consideration in the state legislature that would mandate open enrollment statewide, the public education landscape could change markedly next year.
The effects would not be evenly felt, school leaders and other experts have predicted, with smaller and lower-income districts likely experiencing the brunt of the student departures. Opponents of open enrollment have argued it could decimate these institutions, while proponents have argued it would foster competition and lead to better overall student outcomes.
Mastin said she isn’t opposed to students choosing to enroll elsewhere, but she said her district needs time to prepare.
“We’re not against letting kids leave,” she said. “We’re against letting kids leave right now, for next year, because we don’t know how it’s going to be set up, and we don’t know how to operate that way.”
Leaders in other area districts, including Pembroke and Pittsfield, have indicated they plan to put forth open enrollment warrant articles that mirror Kearsarge’s to their voters this year. Pembroke held a public hearing on the issue on Tuesday, and residents will cast their votes at a special meeting on Jan. 27.
Kearsarge voters will have the first crack at the issue because the district holds an abnormally early deliberative session. In addition, contrary to the practices of most towns and school districts, the vote will happen at the deliberative session itself rather than on the municipal election day in March.
Kearsarge residents on Saturday will also consider next year’s operating budget. Both the school board and municipal budget committee have recommended it be set at $56.6 million, a proposed increase of 2.2% from last year’s $55.4 million budget.
The increase is slightly less than the rate of inflation over the last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The deliberative session will occur at Kearsarge’s middle school instead of its high school this year. It begins at 9 a.m.