Quaboag school district's recruitment mailers under fire
By Brian Lee, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFSOUTHBRIDGE — At least one resident and numerous officials here are still seething about Quaboag Regional School District's use of public funds to recruit Southbridge students last spring.
Resident Michael Murray successfully petitioned state Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, to propose a bill that would prohibit a municipality or regional school district from using public funds or other public resources to recruit students from outside the municipality or regional school district.
The petition of Mr. Moore and John V. Fernandes, D-Milford, was discussed during Thursday's Joint Committee on Education at the Statehouse in Boston. No action was taken, Mr. Moore said.
In April, Quaboag, which consists of Warren and West Brookfield, mailed more than 19,000 postcards to parents in Southbridge, Spencer, Ware, North Brookfield and East Brookfield, Superintendent Brett M. Kustigian said at the time.
QRSD spent $4,543 from its operating budget on the postcards, he had said.
The mailers touted the district's modern technology; advanced placement biology, history, physics and art classes; and its ranking of 58th statewide and 1,649th nationwide in U.S. News & World Report's 2012 best high schools.
They stated: "Decisions are made in the best interest of our students."
Mr. Kustigian did not immediately return a phone message Friday.
Citing records received from QRSD, 89 Southbridge student residents attend Quaboag schools, Cady Joress, Southbridge administrative assistant to the superintendent, said via email.
During a council meeting earlier this month, Mr. Murray accused Quaboag of trying to "raid and pilfer" students through the "self-serving" mailers.
Because it costs more in tuition to educate a student in Southbridge than it does at Quaboag, Mr. Murray complained, the law would allow Warren and West Brookfield to use the per-student profit to offset those towns' tax rates.
In May, Mr. Moore and state Rep. Peter J. Durant, R-Spencer, at the request of Town Manager Christopher Clark, asked the state Ethics Commission to review what they called Quaboag's questionable recruiting practice.
In an interview Friday, Mr. Moore said the commission did not respond.
"I don't know whether it was the best way to deal with it," he said of the request. "But it was one way to try to get some early response into something administratively. But since there's not necessarily a law that forbids it, they (the commission) may not see it as a problem. In the event that's the case, I felt the bill was important to do."
Mr. Moore said he was not against school choice, as students and parents can seek enhanced academic or unique program offerings not available in their home districts. But he said school choice was not intended to be a revenue-producing maneuver.
Mr. Moore said he had not spoken to the Quaboag superintendent. Warren and West Brookfield are not in his senate district.
"I think it's very inappropriate for them to be doing that," the senator said. "People know about school choice. Parents talk to other parents, if they like it."
He went on to note that school choice requires the student to find his or her own transportation.
"Only people who have extra time or resources to pay somebody to transport them can afford to do it," the veteran legislator said. "So it's really not fair from a socioeconomic standpoint and municipal finance standpoint."
The petition awaits a report from the joint committee. Southbridge councilors issued a letter supporting the bill, while the School Committee is slated to take a vote in support of the bill Tuesday.
"There are probably some folks who think it's OK," Mr. Moore said of the practice. "If Quaboag succeeds to be able to do it without reprimand, it'll become like warfare between school districts."
Mr. Moore also noted that the status or reputation of a district can change through the quality of its faculty and a community's ability to support the district.
"The district doing the raiding may be the target of raiding the next day," Mr. Moore said. "I don't think the competition is healthy."
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I also attended the hearing on School Finance before the Joint Committee on Education on Thursday.
I took a personal day in order to travel into Boston to testify on behalf of :
H457:
By Representatives Peisch of
Wellesley and Lewis of Winchester, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
457) of Alice Hanlon Peisch and others relative to improving the quality of
education by reviving the foundation budget review commission. Education.
There were many representatives (including Rep.
Andrews) and senators who gave testimony regarding this bill. Representatives from the MTA, Mass.
Budget and Policy Center, Mass. Association of Business Officials; Citizens for
Public Schools, Stand for Children all spoke in favor of reviving the
foundation budget review commission.
My motivation in presenting testimony in favor of H457 was to increase awareness of the harmful effects of regional school districts using the
nuclear option
- 603 CMR 41.05.
If the foundation budget review commission is
revived it will be a long process before any significant changes to school finance are implemented. Below are
links to the material I provided as testimony.
So
what can you do?
Until
the laws are changed, you can ask every candidate for school committee if they
are in favor of using 603 CMR 41.05 … the nuclear option. We know the
current members of the school committee will use the nuclear option.
You could also contact the members of the Joint Committee on Education regarding 603 CMR 41.05 and the impact of the nuclear option on the Town of Templeton.
My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie Farrell
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