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Small-district petitions seek change to school-choice rule that can saddle receiving towns with long-term tuition costs
Summary
Hancock and Warwick officials asked the Joint Committee on Education to exempt small elementary-only districts from Chapter 76, Section 12B(k), saying the rule can require receiving towns to pay high secondary‑school tuition for nonresident choice students and jeopardize small programs.
Officials from Hancock and Warwick told the Joint Committee on Education that an obscure interpretation of Chapter 76, Section 12B(k) is forcing small elementary districts to choose between accepting school-choice students and risking large future tuition bills — or opting out and shrinking class sizes and programming.
Rebecca Phillips, superintendent of Hancock, said that after a DESE advisory two years ago the district learned it could be required to pay high secondary tuition for choice students who continued on to high school. “We must opt out of choice,” she told the committee, explaining Hancock would…
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