Residents of the Kearsarge Regional School District on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a new policy that will prevent their students from enrolling elsewhere at their expense.
The district is believed to be the first in the state to act since a consequential Supreme Court decision last fall placed schools at risk of facing large tuition bills due to the outflow of students if they don’t adopt restrictive open enrollment policies.
“We have to take some action to protect ourselves,” said Warner resident Ken Bartholomew, who previously served as chair of the school board and supported the measure.
Other districts are expected to follow suit in the coming months. Kearsarge’s vote came first because its charter requires an abnormally early deliberative session, during which votes on any non-fiscal matters are taken.
The state Supreme Court ruled last October that districts without open enrollment policies of their own must pay when their students choose to transfer to another public school in the state.
The law includes a loophole that Kearsarge and other districts are seizing upon in response: A district that enacts an open enrollment policy can set the number of students who can leave at zero, neutralizing the threat of tuition bills.
Kearsarge’s new policy allows 30 students to transfer into its high school and none to leave at the district’s expense. (Students struggling in the district’s schools may still pursue a “best interest” reassignment to an out-of-district school, which must be approved by the superintendent.)
Before the vote, residents expressed two types of concerns about the new policy.
Some said that allowing up to 30 students to transfer into Kearsarge’s schools would unfairly saddle neighboring districts with the same tuition bills Kearsarge is attempting to avoid.
“I do understand the rationale for needing an open enrollment policy, but this one, as written, is openly cynical,” said Mag Francis of New London.
School board chair Alison Mastin of Wilmot said Kearsarge will not actively recruit students from other districts.
Others argued that the district should allow a few families to enroll elsewhere.
School board vice chair Kristen Schultz of Newbury responded that families have many options outside of open enrollment, including charter schools, home education and the state’s education freedom account program.
“All claims — including claims made by our state senators in this district — that our district is against educational choice are categorically false,” she said.
A motion to amend the number of students who could transfer in and out to 15 and five students, respectively, failed in a voice vote.
Mastin said the new policy will allow administrators a trial run of sorts as lawmakers consider whether to make open enrollment universal.
“We want to test it out, because eventually, probably we are all going to be required to do it on both sides of the coin,” she said, referring to a bill under consideration in the State House that would close the loophole.
In addition to the new open enrollment policy, the approximately 200 residents who attended the Saturday session also discussed the school’s operating budget and associated warrant articles.
A motion to reduce the $56.6 million operating budget by $2 million failed by a vote of 198-18. The budget is nearly identical to last year’s, which was $56.2 million.
Warner resident James Gaffney said he proposed the reductions because the district sometimes doesn’t spend all the money taxpayers appropriate.
The district ended the year with a $3.9 million surplus last year. A portion of that was spent to cover an unexpected assessment by the risk pool that administers health insurance for many school districts in the state. Other districts were hit, as well. The remainder was spent on additional warrant articles or returned to taxpayers.
If the district has another surplus at the end of this year, school leaders have proposed allocating standing funds for unexpected special education costs, roofs, and other building maintenance.
Residents will cast their ballots on the operating budget and remaining warrant articles in March.