West Hartford News

Increase in open choice expenses questioned

By: Gregory Hyman, Staff Writer

03/25/2008

Despite some residents' concerns that open choice expenses will soon increase, future costs to fund the program are not likely to have a drastic effect on the budget, said Board of Education officials last Wednesday.

Concerns about open choice were raised at the Board of Education meeting last week, when Elliot Check, liaison for the West Hartford Taxpayer's Association, made a written Freedom of Information Act request to each of the board members. The letter focused on the increasing number of open choice students in town, and requested information about net costs to the town after transportation and special services provided to students were factored in.
Exclaiming surprise at the Freedom of Information Act request, Board of Education Chairman Terry Schmitt said that all the information requested was readily available to the public, adding that the cost of the program was practically negligble.
"You could make the argument that open choice costs us nothing. We only take these kids when we have available space," Schmitt said.
Over the last few years, the number of children brought into town from Hartford for education has risen - from 58 students in 2005 to 87 this year, with an expected 91 students next year - but state funding for the program has also changed, from $2,000 to $2,500 per open choice student. This funding will be supplemented by up to $1,000 per student at schools at which 10 or more open choice students are enrolled. Before, the supplement was only $400. In addition, the town will receive $3,600 for every open choice student enrolled in full-day kindergarten, said Chip Ward, director of financing and planning for the town.
Open choice revenue the town accrues will be offset by costs to participate in the Interdistrict Magnet Schools program. Recent legislation permits all magnet schools to bill towns of residence for tuition, increasing the tuition expense for West Hartford, which has around 150 students attending schools outside the district, said Ward.
And, some say the real issue with the Interdistrict Magnet Schools program is that funding doesn't follow the students.
"Education costshare funding says, 'We'll give Hartford $7,000 per student in the school system there.' West Hartford gets $1,500 per open choice student from Hartford, and we get to count them on our student population count, but Hartford gets to keep the $7,000 if one of our students goes there," Ward said.
Still, town officials say the open choice and Interdistrict Magnet Schools programs will not have a major impact on the budget this year.
"I would expect that we should be relatively in balance with open choice and interdistrict in number of students and tuition dollars," Ward said.