Amid a statewide push by school districts to adopt open enrollment policies in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year, Pembroke’s strategy stands out.
Rather than merely safeguarding against an exodus of students to other towns’ schools, Pembroke’s leaders said this week they plan to actively recruit new students from elsewhere if voters approve a policy change later this month.
If successful, the effort could ultimately reshape a district that has seen steady enrollment decline over the last two decades, from a peak of 1,877 students in 2005 to 1,297 this year.
School leaders said they hope to increase enrollment by as much as 25% in the coming years, a move they said would stabilize rising tax bills and eventually lead to the expansion of course offerings and programming.
“We need to do something to bring in additional revenue, or we are going to be hurting even more — you are going to be hurting even more as taxpayers to bear that burden of that cost,” Superintendent Jessica Bickford told members of the community at a meeting on Tuesday.
Declining enrollment typically increases a school district’s expenses per pupil because many expenses — including building maintenance and utilities — remain largely fixed even as student numbers fall.
The open enrollment law allows districts to charge tuition to a student’s home district when they enroll. The state Supreme Court ruled last fall that a district must pay those bills even if it is not an open enrollment institution itself.
Many districts have responded to the ruling by urging their voters to adopt open enrollment policies because, in a loophole of sorts, the law allows an open enrollment district to block students from leaving at the home district’s expense.
Pembroke’s goal is more ambitious. In addition to preventing any outward transfers, at least at the outset, it also wants to emerge as a destination for families from other towns seeking new options.
“I do believe we have a lot to offer here at Pembroke Academy that is not well known, and we need to push that out,” school board chair Melanie Camelo said.
She pointed to the district’s advanced placement courses, strong music, theatre and foreign language departments, its sports teams and greenhouse, as well as students’ ability to earn college credits.
To support the recruitment effort, the school administrative unit is repurposing an administrative position to increasingly focus on marketing and public relations, school board member Kenneth Nivison said.
“We have not done enough historically to attract students here,” Bickford, who is in her first year as superintendent, acknowledged. “And this is one step that we feel is in the right direction to start that progress forward.”
District leaders also said they plan to respond to Pembroke families’ programmatic wishes. A recent community survey found high interest in agriculture, forestry, technology, health industry, first aid and driver’s education courses, she said.
Whether those efforts will translate into increased enrollment remains to be seen. In Deerfield, which recently started allowing its students to choose from among three high schools — Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, Concord High School and Pembroke Academy — only three of 211 students have selected Pembroke, according to the SAU.
Even so, school board members said that they have also heard anecdotally that families in other towns want to send their children to Pembroke schools.
If voters approve the warrant article at Pembroke’s Jan. 27 special annual meeting, the district would be allowed to accept up to 50 students at Pembroke Hill School, 80 at Three Rivers and 194 at Pembroke Academy.
Administrators said they would not expect to approach those numbers in the first year and would anticipate a more gradual increase instead.
If only a few students enroll, the district would receive more revenue without needing to increase spending, since the new arrivals could be absorbed into existing classes. If enrollment grows significantly, it would require more teachers and staff, but district leaders stressed they would not hire anyone until demand is clear.
“We are not necessarily in the business of saying, ‘We’re going to build it and hope they come,’ because that’s a burden on the taxpayer that we simply don’t want to do,” Nivison said.
Residents who attended a presentation on the proposal this week largely expressed support, though many asked questions about how the plan would be implemented.
“I am very thankful that our school board is being so proactive in getting ahead of this to ensure the survival of Pembroke Academy, but also keeping our tax dollars in the town of Pembroke,” said Kristin Doyle, a Pembroke Academy teacher and parent of three children in the district.
Some residents questioned why the district policy set the number of students who could leave at zero. School board members expressed concerns with sending tax dollars to other towns and also stressed that parents could pursue the manifest educational hardship process if their child were severely struggling in Pembroke schools.
Pembroke’s decision could, of course, have financial consequences for neighboring districts, including others in its own school administrative unit, which includes Allenstown, Chichester, Epsom and Deerfield.
When a student leaves one district to attend school in another, the home district must pay tuition without seeing a corresponding reduction in costs. In Pittsfield, which has seen significant outflows to an open enrollment high school, taxpayers will face nearly $100,000 in tuition costs at this year’s annual meeting, Superintendent Sandie MacDonald previously said.
If districts do not broadly adopt open enrollment policies that limit outbound transfers, the ruling could intensify competition for students. Supporters of school choice argue that competition will improve schools, while critics warn that smaller and less-resourced districts are more vulnerable to losing students — and the funding that follows them.