Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Choice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Danvers committee reviews school‑choice option; public hearing scheduled in April
Summary
Superintendent’s office presented the mechanics, potential revenues and operational limits of Massachusetts school choice; committee will hold a required public hearing before deciding whether to opt in to receive choice students.
School officials presented an overview of Massachusetts’ school‑choice program and recommended the committee hold a public hearing in April to decide whether Danvers should allow nonresident students to enroll.
Why it matters: School choice can generate tuition revenue for a district but can also affect class sizes and long‑term enrollment planning. District leaders said the town currently sends students to other districts under choice but does not receive choice students.
Superintendent Dan Bauer told trustees the state sets the tuition at $5,000 per choice student plus a $75 administrative fee; parents are generally responsible for transportation. He noted some sending districts pay additional costs when services required by a student exceed what the receiving district provides. "The students that came in would still stay with us for the remainder of the time until they graduate," Bauer said, describing a key operational constraint.
Staff provided a baseline example showing how modest, sustained choice enrollment could add recurring tuition revenue to a district account and noted trustees can limit seats by grade and run a random lottery when applications exceed slots. Town and district leaders would need to agree how any tuition revenue is used; school leaders said other districts use the funds flexibly, including for programs or to offset town costs.
Committee discussion touched on capacity questions at elementary grades, advantages for staff members who live outside town and want to enroll children here, and legal/operational details such as whether out‑of‑district placements triggered by a choice student would be charged back to the sending district. Staff agreed to collect additional detail requested by trustees — including historical destinations of Danvers students who attend other districts and closer examples of how receiving districts account for the tuition revenue — and to return for the April hearing required by state law.
No vote was taken; the committee scheduled the required public hearing before its June 1 deadline.
