About one-third of the towns in Vermont have some kind of school choice, and independent schools have opened up near these communities to take advantage of the choice system. Now, the State Board of Education is proposing new rules for these schools — and people in the communities are fighting back.
It's a Friday morning at The Sharon Academy, and school director Michael Livingston is greeting students and staff members as they roll in.
The Sharon Academy is an independent school in the Upper Valley, and if there's one school in the state that would be impacted by the new State Board of Education rules, The Sharon Academy is it.
The school is surrounded by towns that have school choice.
During the 2015-2016 school year, 87 percent of the students at at this private school used public money. That's one of the highest percentages in the state.
So Livingston says there's no doubt the new rules would threaten how the school operates.
"For us it becomes a matter of whether or not we're even viable," he explains. "I mean, that's the level of financial impact."
Private schools that want to accept public money so local kids can attend must seek approval, as well as a five-year license renewal, from the State Board of Education.
And now the state board is proposing new rules that govern that process.
The state board wants to see more financial oversight on schools that use public money.
Private schools don't have to accept kids with disabilities, and the board says the schools should have an open enrollment policy so any child in Vermont can attend.
Livingston says schools like The Sharon Academy have a role to play in Vermont's education system, even if they can't serve every student.
"We need a more diverse, more flexible, more creative, more innovative set of structures. Not a template that forces everybody to look more like each other." — Michael Livingston, The Sharon Academy director
And he says the proposed rules would snuff out all of the innovation and creativity that make schools like The Sharon Academy so effective in the first place.
"We can't assume that there's one system, or a template that we can overlay on such a complicated construct," he explains. "We need a more diverse, more flexible, more creative, more innovative set of structures. Not a template that forces everybody to look more like each other."
The Sharon Academy's history mirrors so many of the small, independent schools that have opened up in Vermont over the past few decades.
In 1996, a local progressive educator opened the school with 12 students. And through the years, with families in the region being able to take advantage of school choice, The Sharon Academy grew.
There are about 150 students there today.
Vermont's school choice system dates back to 1869. It's the oldest tuition program in the country.
School choice in Vermont grew out of the small rural communities that didn't have high schools, and so state education law was written to allow those school districts to use their public dollars at private academies in nearby towns.
But over the past few decades, even as the number of students in Vermont declined, the number of private schools rose sharply. Between 1994 and 2017, the number of approved independent schools rose from 59 to 93. That's an almost 60 percent increase.
And so now the State Board of Education says these school need to play by the same rules that the public schools follow.
"It is no more of a obligation on the private schools to serve children than it is the public schools." — Bill Mathis, State Board of Education member
Bill Mathis is a member of the State Board of Education and he's one of the most outspoken supporters of the new rules.
"It is no more of a obligation on the private schools to serve children than it is the public schools," he says.
And Mathis says public schools have to serve every child: The independent schools that get 40 or 60 or 80 percent of their students through the school choice program should be required to open their doors to every single student who wants to attend according to Mathis.
"We're attempting to just make sure that we have open access, and a quality of opportunity for all children, regardless of their circumstances," he says. "We're trying to do what's right."
Nicole Mace is director of the Vermont School Boards Association, a nonprofit members group that represents public schools. She says Vermont needs these new rules because the current system is sorting kids into two tiers.
"I think it's a civil rights issue. I think it's a Constitutional issue. And we have to ensure that kids have equal access." — Nicole Mace, Vermont School Boards Association director
Mace says the percentage of low-income kids and students with disabilities is lower at the private schools and that the nearby public schools are left serving ever-increasing caseloads of low-income students and students with disabilities.
"I think it's a civil rights issue," Mace explains. "I think it's a Constitutional issue. And we have to ensure that kids have equal access, whether they have a disability, whether or not they're from a family with low income, or other barriers — that they have the same access that their peers have."
Back at The Sharon Academy, the students are scrambling to get to their first class.
Christine Hoyt, who was there for drop-off, says being able to send her daughter to The Sharon Academy is important to her family.
"I don't think I can really express the gratitude I have about this opportunity," Hoyt says, tearing up. "And I actually get a little emotional about it."
Hoyt says just because some independent schools can't serve every child doesn't mean they don't work for a lot of families.
"[W]hy should we deprive everyone of the opportunity of the Sharon Academy experience, because not everyone can have it? I want every school to be like Sharon Academy, that's what I want." — Christine Hoyt, parent
"I understand the equity argument," says Hoyt. "I too, want everyone to have the same opportunities. But why should we deprive everyone of the opportunity of the Sharon Academy experience, because not everyone can have it? I want every school to be like Sharon Academy, that's what I want."
Emotions have been running high around the independent school debate.
When the State Board of Education held meetings in St. Johnsbury and Manchester earlier this winter, more than 1,000 people showed up.
The state board says the changes won’t affect school choice and that the towns that use school choice will still be able to use public money to pay for private education.
But the other side says schools that enroll a small number of choice kids might stop accepting them, rather than be forced to meet the new rules. And they say schools like The Sharon Academy, that rely on choice money, could have to change their acceptance policies.
Ultimately, opponents of the new rules say, families that want to use school choice will end up with fewer options.
The state board is trying to hammer out wording for the new rules that somehow satisfy both sides. They'll find out how they did during the next set of public meetings, which will likely be held in the spring.
Vermont’s Choice: Private Schools, Public Money is a six-part series looking at the Vermont independent school system. Check back throughout the week for more from the series.
Correction 9:44 a.m. 2/20/17 The original version of this story mistakenly referred to The Sharon Academy as Sharon Academy.
