The Pragmatist

Budget crunches and achievement gaps feature prominently in news around the country. School boards and communities across Vermont continue to explore ways to decrease the costs of education, but will these new efficiencies provide better education? As state and local budgets come under increasing scrutiny, school boards and communities across the state are faced with difficult choices, as they seek to provide the best education for their students.

Several Vermont towns have begun to examine new education models. The plans entail closing public schools and opening up independent ones, allowing for more flexibility with government mandates.

Winhall, a small town in southern Vermont, pursued this option and opened an independent school, the Mountain School, 12 years ago. The town voted to close Winhall Elementary and open the Mountain School on an independent academy model, like the town’s high school, St. Johnsbury Academy. Such independent schools guarantee admission to town residents, but are not subject to the same constraints as traditional public schools, which must abide by federal mandates, such as No Child Left Behind. The Mountain School has a five to one student to teacher ratio and an average class size of 10, statistics few, if any, public schools in Vermont can boast. These benefits are accompanied by a decrease in per-pupil cost by several thousand dollars.

Independent schools can fundraise and can choose how they will spend their money, allowing flexibility. State rules about equalization prevent public schools from exercising the same liberties. In fact, Vermont has penalized Addison County for high per-pupil costs. Towns and counties are weighing the relative advantages of consolidation and privatization, in addition to other options, as they seek to reduce costs.

For 200 years, Vermont law has allowed towns without schools to tuition their students out to private schools. My hometown, South Hero, Vt. has an elementary and a middle school, but no high school. The town tuitions students out to nearby high schools, either in Vermont or New York. It also pays tuition to area public high schools, or will contribute the same amount towards tuition at a private high school or academy. Voters in my town and in the rest of the county have overturned measures to build a high school because of the superior services students receive for the tuition price the town pays. That tuition has become increasingly expensive, however, sparking continued debates about the present model.

Although I see this independent school model as an innovative way for education to be locally responsible, I also have concerns. Special education costs in Vermont now make up large portions of education budgets in some towns because of unfunded mandates of legislation like No Child Left Behind. Independent schools therefore may have the flexibility to allocate limited funds more equitably. However, the mandates for special education funding are important guarantors of access to equal education for those with learning and other disabilities. Localizing education to this extent allows for flexibility, but federal education mandates and standards do have value, too.

Vermont’s efforts to deal with tightening education budgets pose important questions for future educators and parents. Is privatization or consolidation the key to less expensive education? As towns continue to explore these and other options, we as voters must ask ourselves whether these changes will also bring about better and more effective education.