Inter-District School Choice in Massachusetts. White Paper No. 181

Autor/in	Hatch, Roger
Institution	Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
Titel	Inter-District School Choice in Massachusetts. White Paper No. 181
Quelle	(2018), (22 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Quantitative Daten; School Choice; School Districts; School Law; Educational Cooperation; Enrollment; Place of Residence; Tuition; Expenditure per Student; Admission (School); Enrollment Trends; Scores; Educational Finance; Educational Policy; Budgets; Special Education; Virtual Classrooms; School District Size; Massachusetts + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Choice of school; Schulwahl; School district; Schulbezirk; Law concerning schools; Schulrecht; Education; cooperation; Kooperation; Einschulung; Wohnort; Unterweisung; Unterricht; Bildungsfonds; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Finanzhaushalt; Special needs education; Sonderpädagogik; Sonderschulwesen; School districts; Size; Schuleinzugsbereich; Master-Studiengang
Abstract	The inter-district school choice law in Massachusetts was passed in 1991. Its two main goals were to provide education options to Massachusetts parents and children, and to spur competition among districts. School choice allows school districts to enroll non-resident pupils from other districts at a tuition cost that starts at $5,000 but averages more than $6,000 when special education expenses are added in. The tuition is paid entirely by the students' home districts, at no cost to the parents. In fiscal year 2017, more than 16,000 of the Commonwealth's 950,000 students were enrolled as choice pupils. Nearly 60 percent (190) of the state's 322 school districts accepted students through the program. There is one common complaint about the program. The law says the tuition rate should be 75 percent of the receiving district's per pupil expenditure or $5,000, whichever is lower. The $5,000 cap has been in place since the program's inception 27 years ago. At this point all receiving districts are subject to that cap, which should be raised to levels high enough to incentivize more high-performing districts to accept non-residents. At the same time, consideration must be given to maintaining fiscal stability in the sending districts. Even those who are aware of the program may be uninformed about the specifics of how it actually works. The admission process is designed to be open and non-discriminatory. Treatment of students after admission is straightforward: the students treated just like residents. The funding is at first blush blessedly simple--$5,000 per pupil plus any special education charges--but if one digs deeper it becomes far more intricate. Recently, there has been little independent research published on the topic perhaps because it has changed very little since it's inception. This paper attempts to bring into focus not just the mechanics of how it functions, but some of the issues surrounding the program, and recommendations for how they might be resolved in the future. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. 185 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 617-723-2277; Web site: http://www.pioneerinstitute.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01