For all the worries about Harvard’s schools, their reputation for excellence is apparently still intact. No sooner had Superintendent Tom Jefferson advertised a few openings for choice students from other towns for next year, than he had received 51 applications, many for grades other than the ones specified in the ad.
Each choice student brings just over $5,000 in tuition. At Monday night’s School Committee meeting, Jefferson asked the board to approve adding 10 new choice students next year, to bring to 80 the total number of such students in the district. He noted that the students could be added just to grades that are on the small side, adding much-needed revenue without significantly increasing class size.
In a handout to the board, Jefferson explained that this year’s choice revenue of $385,000 has enabled the schools to fund seven teachers, keeping class size down in several grades. He also argued that the choice students now in the schools are very similar to the Harvard resident students, noting that “the 11th-grade class, which had the top MCAS scores in the state, was 90 percent Harvard residents and 10 percent choice students.”
Jefferson on Monday initially requested adding three choice pupils in next year’s 11th grade and seven to next year’s second grade. He warned that if the board turned down adding the new choice students, it would have to find another $50,000 in budget cuts to make up the difference, because this choice revenue was already assumed in next year’s school budget that the board had earlier approved.
New board member Keith Cheveralls asked that the vote to accept the students be postponed until after the override vote, and after the board hears whether Harvard has won the contract to educate Devens elementary students, which would begin the year after next. He added that he’d be reluctant to commit to the choice applicants before the board has a clearer picture of its budget needs and future class sizes.
Cheveralls also said he was not happy that so many choice students would be added to just one grade at the elementary school, and requested that any new choice students at the elementary school be disbursed over more grades.
Board Chairman Stu Sklar argued that adding these choice students is “a no-brainer… we have to vote on the 10 kids—if the override fails, we’d have to cut another $140,000, plus the extra $50,000 we’d need to make up for the choice kids!” He also noted that if Harvard wins the Devens contract, the schools would receive a lot of new revenue, allowing the schools to adjust staffing to deal with the situation.
Board member Virginia Justicz noted that putting new choice students in grades three, four, and five makes little sense, because those grades have higher numbers. Next year’s first and second grades are slated to have 65 students each, not taking into account new choice or new Harvard residents. The third, fourth, and fifth grades will have 91 to 95 students next year.
New member Patty Wenger pointed out that there are 70 houses for sale in Harvard, so there is some uncertainty regarding how big some grades may end up. She also wondered why few other towns similar to Harvard in MCAS scores accept choice students.
Jefferson replied that many high achieving towns closer to Boston, which don’t accept choice, do accept METCO students from Boston. He also said he’d heard from a local realtor who had lost a potential buyer, who decided to buy a house in Dover or Sherborn instead, because that school system had better technology offerings in the elementary schools.
“Dover-Sherborn is similar to our MCAS scores…they spend $3,000 more per pupil than we do,” Jefferson said. He also assured Wenger that the state picks up any extra costs for special education services required by choice students.
Justicz then proposed that Harvard accept four new choice students in the 11th grade, and three each in next year’s first and second grades, to even out the impact on the elementary school. Even if some new students in the lower grades move to town, those grades should stay within the class-size guidelines, board members agreed. The board then voted unanimously to accept the ten new choice students.
Because there are nine applications for next year’s first-grade choice slots, and seven for the second grade, the schools will hold a lottery for the places. There are four applications for the 11th grade, so all of those students will be admitted.
