With numbers down, Wachusett schools consider courting students from other districts

HOLDEN ― Years of declining enrollment, as well as students opting to go elsewhere, have left Wachusett Regional School District searching for more students.

Wachusett is now seeking to allow for students who live outside the district to opt in to attending its schools. Under state law, districts can provide students who live outside the district to opt into attending schools in the district, provided the district has space for those extra students.

Wachusett had previously done so but stopped the practice several years ago due to overcrowding. However, with student enrollment declining and more than 100 students within Wachusett's district opting to attend school elsewhere, the district is now activating school choice once again.

At its peak, in 2013, Wachusett received 240 students from outside the district. However, since school choice needs to be approved each year and hadn't been approved in years, that number has been in steep decline. For the current school year, only 16 students from outside the district attended Wachusett schools, all of whom were grandfathered in from having opted in years ago as elementary students.

Wachusett sends out 108 students out on school choice. The largest number opt to attend virtual schools (27 students), followed by the Worcester Public Schools (24 students) and the West Boylston Public Schools (nine students).

Under school choice, the district sending a student to another district must pay that district a state-determined amount for educating that student. If a district sends as many students as it takes in, that would keep the funding balanced.

However, over the past several school years, Wachusett has been at a significant deficit. For the current fiscal year, the school choice has resulted in Wachusett taking a $733,761 loss; and over the past two years the loss has totaled over $1.4 million.

"I think the way the budget is, we have to look at additional revenue sources. I don't think revenue is the reason to do it or not do it, but we need to look at every avenue we can," School Committee Chair Scott Runstom said during a meeting on Monday, where the topic was presented.

Schools do not pay to transport students who opt in to attend from other communities; the responsibility for transportation is on parents who opt their students in. Special education costs for students who opt in are paid by the district where the student lives. A student who participates in school choice does not count toward Chapter 70 funding for the district where the student opts to attend class.

Over the past eight years, Wachusett has lost 627 students, which has left class sizes smaller. Wachusett Regional Deputy Superintendent Jon Krol said that has provided an opportunity for more students to be brought into the district without the need to add teachers or classrooms.

"Think of it like an airplane flying from Boston to Florida. The airplane might hold 300 passengers, but only 250 passengers are on the plane. That plane is still flying from Boston to Florida. You can add people to the empty seats without acquiring additional cost," Krol said. "We are not building a second airplane, we are filling the airplane we already have."

Wachusett's plan would allow students to opt in to attending at the following schools and grade levels:

• Thomas Prince School (Princeton) Grade 8
• Paxton Center School (Paxton) Grades 6, 7 and 8
• Davis Hill Elementary School (Holden) Grade 1
• Chocksett Middle School (Sterling) Grades 6, 7 and 8
• Wachusett Regional High School Grades 9 and 10

The high school is where the loss of students has been felt the most. In 2016 Wachusett Regional High School had an enrollment of 2,166 students; for the current school year that number is 1,765 students, an 18.5% decrease.

"Overall that is the school in the district that would be the most impacted, since it is the culminating school of the entire district," Krol said.

The School Committee will need to hold a public hearing on school choice before voting on whether to permit students to opt in to Wachusett schools, but the reception from School Committee members on Monday was positive.

"Being from Paxton, I know when my kids were in elementary school we had school choice and I thought it was very valuable. For a small town, it can really help balance things out," Runstom said.