School Committee discusses out-of-town students
Published on October 30th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - Student residency was discussed at length last month and again at last week’s School Committee meeting, bringing the committee closer to finalizing its policy on the issue.
The School Committee sought and obtained the legal opinion of Stephen Finnegan, attorney for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, on its current policy regarding the issue of a student’s legal residence and the school system he or she attends, with respect to state law.
In summary, Finnegan found that the Stoneham School Committee’s policy is a good one which adequately addresses the issue in terms of definition of residency, and is consistent with the Department of Education’s regulation.
The important point regarding this issue is expressed in the School Committee policy and says that if a child is living in Stoneham, apart from parents who are living outside of town, for the express purpose of attending Stoneham schools, then the School Committee has the right to charge that family tuition.
Regarding tuition rates, Finnegan’s opinion suggested that the Stoneham School Committee use the formula set up by the state for school choice which sets a rate at 75 per cent of a town’s per pupil cost, not to exceed $5,000. In Stoneham, the per pupil cost is estimated at $6,500.
"I put a lot of stock in Steve Finnegan’s opinion," said Committee Chairman Dan Moynihan, calling the idea of the 75 percent of per pupil rate "an appropriate guideline."
Finnegan’s opinion on the definition of residency differed from the DOE’s however. Finnegan suggested that residency is the place where the parent or legal guardian lives; the DOE specifies it as the residence at which the student actually sleeps. Stoneham’s policy most closely mirrors the DOE’s definition.
The committee did discuss the issue of hardship whereby a family’s living situation changes temporarily and students are left to live in town with someone other than their parent(s) or legal guardian.
While waiving tuition also falls under the purview of the School Committee, member Marc Grimaldi suggested that such may be considered in the instances of hardship, and a factual hearing to determine the actual living situation of the student would be necessary.
The School Committee currently does require appropriate documentation for proof of residency and the committee expanded this item to include evidence from the property owner with whom the student is living temporarily to attest that the situation being presented is a true one.
The School Committee voted in favor of adding this requirement to expand the current policy.
"I would want to know (the situation) when making a decision about tuition waivers," committee member Marc Grimaldi said.
Tuition based on the school choice formula, Grimaldi said, "is a lot of money. It’s also a lot of money that Stoneham is entitled to."
Currently, the School Committee’s policy states that if a family moves out of town on or before April 30, the student must leave the Stoneham school system If a family moves after than date, the student may finish out the school year in Stoneham.
However, Connelly reported that building principals have suggested that this date be pushed up to April 1, the date that marks the beginning of the fourth term of the school year. In addition, a move by that date would ensure that any moving students would be taking the MCAS exam in their new school system, where results of a school system’s performance would be more accurately reflective of the student body.
The School Committee concurred and voted favorably to change the date to April 1.
While the residency situation is a serious one that may have Stoneham taxpayers paying for some students to attend town schools while their parents pay taxes elsewhere, Connelly tried to put the reality of the situation into perspective.
"I don’t want the community to get the impression that we have a large number of nonresident families in Stoneham. We do try diligently to control this and ...to put a stop to any nonresident student attending Stoneham schools."
According to Connelly, there are currently two such situations that the School Committee is aware of, where parents have moved out of town, but their children have stayed on in Stoneham to continue their education.
Connelly stated that following adoption of a final policy, he would proceed to investigate these two situations, acting on behalf of the School Committee, to determine the reason for the living situation. He would then report back to the School Committee and, if the situations turn out to be examples of the above, it could set a tuition rate for the families.
Connelly will incorporate the two approved changes into the policy and the School Committee is expected to adopt it at the next meeting.
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