The Rutland City School Board voted to set public school choice limits for Rutland High School at 40 students transferring into the district and 40 students transferring out.

Steve Sampson, identified in the meeting as a high-school representative, presented the annual school-choice update. He said the application window runs from Jan. 2 through Feb. 28 and that the district historically set maximums of 40 students in and 40 students out. For the coming school year the district currently anticipates 12 openings for incoming students; if more than 12 students apply the district will use a lottery to allocate seats. Sampson described the districts lottery practice as literally picking names from a hat and said the first 12 selected would be able to enroll, with the remainder placed on a prioritized waiting list.

Sampson told the board that as of the meeting there were 35 incoming school-choice applicants and 25 outgoing transfers, a net gain of ten students. He provided a grade-level breakdown of the incoming applicants (7 seniors, 9 juniors, 12 sophomores, 7 freshmen) and outgoing applicants (7 seniors, 8 juniors, 5 sophomores, 5 freshmen).

Board members asked about whether the state or districts funding follows school-choice students. Sampson said special-education costs are covered by the students resident (home) district; otherwise the regular tuition/financial arrangements apply and, in general, money does not follow an outgoing student from Rutland.

The board approved the motion to set the school-choice limits by voice vote; no roll-call counts were recorded in the transcript.

Ending

Administration and board members noted they would monitor applications through the Feb. 28 window and implement a lottery only if applicants exceed available seats.