Magnet Tuition Plan Halted

The state House of Representatives unanimously voted to stop New Haven from charging districts tuition for magnet schools without advance discussion and input from affected towns and the education commissioner.

New Haven district officials had proposed the idea of charging districts and towns $750 per student for tuition starting this fall as a way to raise revenue during a bleak funding year at the state level.

The bill to halt that idea passed unanimously among state representatives late Monday night. No legislators spoke against it. The bill now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

Meanwhile, New Haven Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries put the idea on hold for the coming year anyway.

Chief Financial Officer Victor De La Paz first presented the tuition idea in March as a way to raise about $1.5 million next fiscal year, at a rate of $750 per student. That amount would double to $1,500 per student the year after and triple to $2,250 after three years.

About 2,875 suburban students are currently enrolled in 17 magnet schools in New Haven, according to an Oct. 1 count. Currently, suburban districts sending students to New Haven magnet schools get to keep state funding received for those students. New Haven receives state funding of about $7,000 per suburban student and about $3,000 per local student enrolled in magnet schools.

The proposal was taken up by school board members at Operations and Finance Committee meetings through March and April. Noting the pushback from New Haven community members and leaders of other districts, board members decided to stall their support for the plan.

At Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Harries reassured the public that the proposal is no longer on the table to take effect in the upcoming school year. He said officials will consider it for the year after.

The bill before the legislature would not stop New Haven from eventually charging tuition. Instead it would institute a longer process before New Haven could do it. The bill would prevent any local or regional Board of Education from newly deciding to charge tuition for enrolling students from other districts in its magnet schools without authorization from the Commissioner of Education and then without written notification to affected districts at least year in advance.

It asks the commissioner to consider a financial review of the districts and schools involved, to determine whether the tuition is appropriate.

But Abbe Smith, spokesperson for the state Department of Education, said the decision on whether to charge tuition remains a local decision.

Three districts — Danbury, Windham, and New London — already charge tuition, Smith said. They will not be affected by the bill, if it passes in the state Senate and if the governor signs it.

Hamden State Rep. Michael D’Agostino authored the bill along with Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, also from Hamden, and State Rep. Robyn Porter, who represents both Hamden and New Haven. Four of six state representatives whose districts include New Haven voted to support the bill; Reps. Pat Dillon and Roland Lemar missed the vote, according to this report in the CT Mirror.

The move to regulate charging tuition was prompted specifically by New Haven’s proposal, D’Agostino said.

Hamden’s superintendent of schools and Board of Education chairman reached out to D’Agostino to intervene in New Haven’s plans.

Representatives from several districts, including West Haven, Hamden, East Haven, Derby, Wallingford and Naugatuck, sent a letter to Department of Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell asking her not to approve New Haven’s proposal to charge tuition. (Read the full letter here.)

“Our school districts simply cannot afford to pay these fees, unless we cut from our own schools and programs — while our schools would suffer the results of less funding, New Haven magnet schools would still receive money they need to provide their programs and services,” the letter reads. ​“This makes for bad public policy, and our state shouldn’t be supporting it.”

Hamden would pay more than $420,000 the first year of the proposal and more than $1.1 million by the time the cost reached its peak of $2,250 per student. West Haven would be the most affected, paying $750,000 the first year and ultimately more than $2 million.

D’Agostino chaired the Hamden Board of Education for 13 years. He said he could ​“obviously appreciate the issue there, especially the difficulty with asking sending districts to pay that specific amount of tuition.”

He started to draft the bill immediately, getting support from other towns and districts. He said his experience on Hamden’s ed board also made him sympathetic with New Haven schools officials. ​“If I were in their shoes, I would have looked for the same sources of revenue. You have to do that as a board member,” he said. ​“I don’t think anyone begrudges them that.”

Porter serves a district that is 51 percent in Hamden and 49 percent in New Haven. She, too, said she understands that ​“hard, drastic cuts” at the state level led New Haven to propose charging tuition.

But the bill is a ​“tool to be used to get New Haven and Hamden to the table so we could talk about something that could work for everyone,” she said. Porter attended a recent Board of Education finance committee meeting and discussed the bill with its chair, Darnell Goldson.

“We’re not saying New Haven can’t” charge tuition, she said. ​“We would just like for the commissioner to have a say in it and for there to be a year’s time” of warning for sending districts.

Bridgeport has also been considering charging tuition for suburban districts sending students to its magnet schools.

“After this bill, it’s going to be a collaborative effort with the sending districts to say, what can people afford? Can they afford anything? If they can’t shouldn’t they be allowed to pull their students back” if they can educate them within district? D’Agostino said.