ConVal’s Superintendent Kimberly Saunders spoke in opposition of a school choice bill aimed at shifting some state money to private-school tuition.
Senate Bill 193, which is making its way through the state legislature, failed narrowly in the House early last week, although it was revived by state Senate members on Thursday night by sticking it onto an unrelated House bill, according to news reports. The bill has support from Gov. Chris Sununu.
The bill allows eligible families to receive about $3,600 per student plus differentiated aid in the form of a voucher. The funds could be used for private and religious school tuition, homeschooling, tutoring, or other education expenses.
Saunders said during a Breakfast Education Forum hosted by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning that the bill, if it were to pass, could move millions from the public school system over the next 10 years into other institutions that aren’t necessarily held to the same accountability or transparency standards.
Saunders recognized that public schools aren’t the answer for every child, but called on state officials to properly fund public education before it begins discussing how it’s going to pay for other models.
“My challenge to the legislature, to the governor, to the commissioner, is fund, properly fund, public education,” she said. “Show us you can do that, make that commitment for us and then let’s talk about how we can fund other types of education.”
The State’s Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, who attended the breakfast forum, spoke before Saunders and left the event before he could respond to the Saunders comments. Edelblut said in a brief interview with the Ledger-Transcript after the forum that the Department of Education doesn’t take a stance on legislative bills.
Edelblut did say during the conversation that he thinks it’s important to create as many options for students as possible in order to create bright futures for them.
In response to a question about public-school funding, Edelblut said the state legislature sets the budget for the public school system not the state’s Department of Education.
During the forum, Edelblut did discuss the future of education across the state.
Edelblut said over the next 10 years that student body population in New Hampshire is projected to contract by about 50,000.
“That’s astounding,” Edelblut said about the figure. “ … I just hope we can recognize it, get in front of it, and manage that process rather than it being one of these long, drawn out, painful processes where we are, you know, trimming a little here, cutting a little there.”
Edelblut said consolidation is one solution, although it has limitations.
“When you get to 50,000 less students, the geography that you are trying to cover with fewer amount of students, you can’t consolidate enough,” he said. “You can’t put a kid on a bus for two hours to consolidate them.”
Saunders said the district has already felt the impact of a shrinking student-body enrollment.
The ConVal district has 11 schools, including eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school. During the 2017-18 school year, ConVal had 2,143 students enrolled. During the 2007-08 school year, 10 years prior, it had 2,969, according to May 1 enrollment numbers.
For many years, people have discussed the possibility of reconfiguration or consolidation. At a ConVal School Board meeting on April 17, members discussed concepts like multi-grade/ multi-age classrooms and developing models for possible consolidation or reconfiguration. A board member made a motion during the meeting to put a policy in place that would lay out a specific number a class population would have to drop to before the number acted as a trigger that would result in a multi-age class, according to meeting minutes. It was also suggested at the meeting that a plan regarding possible consolidation or reconfiguration should be brought forward by Jan. 8, 2019.
A petition warrant article on the ballot in March asked taxpayers to give the board authority to shutter schools in the district that dipped below 50 resident students for two years in a row. The measure received a fair amount of pushback prior to the district-wide vote and ultimately failed at the polls.
Edelblut commended Saunders for studying what he called a “redesign” of ConVal during the forum on Thursday.
“She knows that we have to move the system forward. And it’s not an easy task, she needs support, she needs encouragement,” he said. “Because again, it doesn’t just happen in a school. Kimberly can’t do it in the four walls of this building, it happens in the broad community and so everybody needs to be part of that.”
Edelblut brought up a possible shift in thinking from communities building and owning their own facilities, to leasing spaces in certain instances.
“You have more flexibility,” he said about the option.
Part of the talk on Thursday morning also revolved around a shift from an industrial learning to the information age.
Edelblut said for years teachers would stand and deliver content to their students. Edelblut said a portion of students thrived in that environment, others retained some information, and the rest didn’t get that much out of it.
“That system worked OK because students were able to move through that system and they got out, and that cohort who didn’t get too much of it, there were still good manufacturing jobs,” he said. “Those students could walk into a manufacturing job and they could be middle class, they could earn a living, they could raise a family.”
That’s not really the case anymore though, he said, because technology has advanced to the point where manufacturing companies need employees who have an understanding of subjects like algebra and geometry.
ConVal is part of the Region 14 Applied Technology Center, which also includes the Jaffrey-Rindge School District. The center recently announced that it would be launching a manufacturing program. Saunders reported on Thursday that about 20 students have signed up to participate in the program.
“That does mean that students that leave that program can go get a job in this area as well as earn a living wage,” Saunders said.
Businesses and non-profit organizations who attended the event were able to ask questions to both the commissioner and the superintendent during the event.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.