Blackstone-Millville committee votes to open district to school choice for 2021–22

The Blackstone-Millville Regional School District School Committee voted May 13 to open the district to the Commonwealth’s school-choice program for the 2021–22 academic year.

Administrators presented two data tables showing the number of students choicing into the district and the number leaving for charter and private schools. The presentation noted 44 students currently in the district as a result of past school-choice openings and emphasized the district’s desire to retain and increase that enrollment.

“ strongly encourage the school committee to approve the school choice program as we’ve done in the past so that we can continue to keep these at least the 44 students and hopefully increase that number,” the presenting staff member said, recommending that the district remain open to choice.

Tara Larkin moved to open the district to school choice and Tammy Lemieux seconded. After brief discussion the committee approved the motion by voice vote; no formal roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.

Why it matters: Opening to school choice can affect district enrollment, per-pupil state aid and long-term planning for staffing and facilities. Committee members said they want the district to continue the recent gains in enrollment and to offer families a choice to attend BMR schools.

What’s next: The superintendent and central office staff will implement the administrative steps to open to school choice for FY22 and post application information as required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.