Conservative Ethan Allen Institute, in report, says school choice could save state millions
Toolbox
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: December 1, 2009
MONTPELIER — A free market think tank that believes in limiting government is recommending that the state save money by allowing students to choose what schools to attend – and says now is the time to give the plan a try.
The weakened economy and battered state revenue picture may give new life to an idea that has never gotten a foothold in Vermont – school choice – an author of the study by the Ethan Allen Institute said at the Statehouse Monday.
The problem has been a well-known and continuing worry for years: Student populations have declined but the cost of educating children and the number of teachers and other staff have gone in the opposite direction.
About $80 million could be saved by allowing school choice in Vermont, and as much as $300 million by increasing the number of students per teacher in the state, according to Chris Robbins, a director of the institute and the main author of the report. Robbins is a former president of the Vermont School Boards Association and a long-time member of the Danville school board.
"I am not against public schools," Robbins said. But the state's schools can do better — and run cheaper — through competition, Robbins said. "How can we have fewer students but more teachers? This is a trend that has been going on for 10 years."
Robbins also said the long-standing argument against spending less — that the state's schoolchildren receive a better education than in places that spend less tax money — is not correct. When only the "white cohort" — that is caucasian students alone — are compared, Vermont's education performance is average, not exceptional, Robbins said. Other states have an added challenge of educating more students who are not native English speakers, he said.
The savings could be achieved through a variety of means, according to the Ethan Allen Institute report. Charter schools and allowing school spending to follow students would foster competition – and allow private schools to educate students for less money per pupil. Increased classroom size would also allow savings by cutting the number of school workers needed per pupil, according to the study.
An NEA official countered that Robbins is missing a main point. Vermont may not have the racial diversity of other school systems, but it does have economic diversity among its students, said Darren Allen of the Vermont-NEA, the union that represents teachers.
That aspect of the report shows "a real prejudice against students other than white students," he said. Vermont students "may be not as racially diverse as the rest of the nation but they are certainly socio-economically diverse," Allen said, and that mimics the situation in more schools with more ethnic diversity.
"We reject the notion that Vermonters are not getting a good return on their investment," Allen added.
"This is simply the continuation of the Ethan Allen Institute's mission to take public money and distribute it to private schools and religious schools," he added.
In fact, Allen contended, the use of charter schools in other states is a way for them to try and emulate what schools already provide in Vermont, which is small classes and community involvement.
Robbins said, however, that the current public school system is simply too costly for what it provides, Robbins said.
As for another worry raised about private schools — that they will not take the students that need the most help and cost the most — that will not happen, said John McClaughry, who recently stepped down as president of the institute but remains involved and helped with the new education cost study.
"I am operating on the assumption that somebody will take everybody," he said.
For instance some of the private schools in the state already commit to not rejecting any students, said William Cruess, the retired assistant headmaster and business manager at St. Johnsbury Academy, which educates local and international students. The academy "has never turned anybody down" from the local area it serves — and has grown to more than 1,000 pupils, said Cruess, who was on the institute's committee looking at education with Robbins.
"With more competition and the free market you are going to reduce the cost of education," he said.
School choice has never been approved in Vermont to any extent. But with the current economic situation it may, Robbins said.
"In every poll I have seen, the public is in favor of school choice," he said. "The groundswell is out there."
"The politics are really going to be governed by the money," Robbins said.
24