COMMENTARY
PUblic v. private education conflict – real or imaginary?
by VISA Executive Director Mill Moore – June 19, 2018
“We have a huge conflict in this state between public and private education,” remarked then-Vermont Rep. David Sharpe in a 2018 speech. Because he once chaired the House Education Committee, Sharpe’s words have attracted attention and comment.
Enrollment numbers reveal the heart of the matter. Of the 83,000 Vermont K-12 students whose educations are publicly funded, only 2,800 are attending independent schools. Only 3.4 percent.
How do the decisions of 3.4 percent of students to attend independent schools instead of public schools create what Rep. Sharpe terms “a huge conflict”? The public education system engages 96.6 percent of all students. Its overwhelmingly dominant role in Vermont education is obvious.
Is the 3.4-percent independent enrollment The Mouse that Roared of Vermont education?
Hyperbole aside, some observers do perceive a conflict when public tuition funds go to non-public independent schools. But for decades this practice has been completely normal and functional in Vermont, for a very good reason: Vermont school districts too small to support their own schools must pay tuition to any school that will educate their students.
Vermont’s Constitution guarantees all resident children a publicly-supported education — one of few state constitutions to do so. In 21st century Vermont, this means every child is guaranteed a publicly-financed kindergarten-through-grade 12 education, and recent legislation is extending the education entitlement to pre-kindergarten.
Few school districts now have no public school, but several have only an elementary school and a few only a high school. Students from those districts have a school choice option for the grades not provided in their home district.
Currently, 130 independent schools scattered throughout the state educate 8,500 K-12 students. Only 36 of these are general education schools eligible to receive publicly-supported students. (Another 31 are therapeutic special education schools receiving public funds to serve students with special needs.)
When applied to school choice, the publicly supported education entitlement is available in any extent needed by the student and family: full-time attendance at a public school or any form of split attendance or full-time attendance at an independent school. In whatever form, it still is a student’s constitutional entitlement to a publicly provided education.
Whether wealthy, middle-income or low-income, every Vermont family has exactly the same entitlement when it comes to public financial support for choice of an independent school. Vermont does not require a means test to receive educational entitlements.
Some critics question whether allowing school choice and independent schools leads to social and economic inequality. We know the answer, because Vermont has run the school choice experiment for decades: U.S. Census data show greater district-to-district household income inequality in the 100-percent public school regions of the state such as Chittenden County, compared to the regions with substantial numbers of school choice districts such as the Northeast Kingdom. Economic stratification is diminished, not increased, when students have the opportunity to cross school district boundaries.
Education in Vermont, particularly public education, has been heavily burdened in recent years by a series of legislated policy and performance requirements: Act 46 consolidations, flexible pathways to graduation, pre-kindergarten requirements, changes in standardized testing, student safety requirements, Act 173 reorganization of special education etc., plus a volley of model school policies to be implemented.
The burdens are indeed heavy, but few originate from the presence of the 3.4 percent of students using their school choice entitlement to attend an independent school.
“We have a huge conflict in this state between public and private education,” remarked then-Vermont Rep. David Sharpe in a 2018 speech. Because he once chaired the House Education Committee, Sharpe’s words have attracted attention and comment.
Enrollment numbers reveal the heart of the matter. Of the 83,000 Vermont K-12 students whose educations are publicly funded, only 2,800 are attending independent schools. Only 3.4 percent.
How do the decisions of 3.4 percent of students to attend independent schools instead of public schools create what Rep. Sharpe terms “a huge conflict”? The public education system engages 96.6 percent of all students. Its overwhelmingly dominant role in Vermont education is obvious.
Is the 3.4-percent independent enrollment The Mouse that Roared of Vermont education?
Hyperbole aside, some observers do perceive a conflict when public tuition funds go to non-public independent schools. But for decades this practice has been completely normal and functional in Vermont, for a very good reason: Vermont school districts too small to support their own schools must pay tuition to any school that will educate their students.
Vermont’s Constitution guarantees all resident children a publicly-supported education — one of few state constitutions to do so. In 21st century Vermont, this means every child is guaranteed a publicly-financed kindergarten-through-grade 12 education, and recent legislation is extending the education entitlement to pre-kindergarten.
Few school districts now have no public school, but several have only an elementary school and a few only a high school. Students from those districts have a school choice option for the grades not provided in their home district.
Currently, 130 independent schools scattered throughout the state educate 8,500 K-12 students. Only 36 of these are general education schools eligible to receive publicly-supported students. (Another 31 are therapeutic special education schools receiving public funds to serve students with special needs.)
When applied to school choice, the publicly supported education entitlement is available in any extent needed by the student and family: full-time attendance at a public school or any form of split attendance or full-time attendance at an independent school. In whatever form, it still is a student’s constitutional entitlement to a publicly provided education.
Whether wealthy, middle-income or low-income, every Vermont family has exactly the same entitlement when it comes to public financial support for choice of an independent school. Vermont does not require a means test to receive educational entitlements.
Some critics question whether allowing school choice and independent schools leads to social and economic inequality. We know the answer, because Vermont has run the school choice experiment for decades: U.S. Census data show greater district-to-district household income inequality in the 100-percent public school regions of the state such as Chittenden County, compared to the regions with substantial numbers of school choice districts such as the Northeast Kingdom. Economic stratification is diminished, not increased, when students have the opportunity to cross school district boundaries.
Education in Vermont, particularly public education, has been heavily burdened in recent years by a series of legislated policy and performance requirements: Act 46 consolidations, flexible pathways to graduation, pre-kindergarten requirements, changes in standardized testing, student safety requirements, Act 173 reorganization of special education etc., plus a volley of model school policies to be implemented.
The burdens are indeed heavy, but few originate from the presence of the 3.4 percent of students using their school choice entitlement to attend an independent school.