The dollars and cents of school choice, explained

To the editor:

At its May 1 meeting, the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee unanimously voted to accept school-choice students again for the 2025–2026 school year. Berkshire Hills Regional School District (BHRSD) has been accepting school-choice students for close to three decades, and it has been a tremendous educational benefit to our students and has provided much-needed tax relief to taxpayers in our three towns. I would like to take this opportunity to explain the basics of school choice and share how the program has been a financial success for Berkshire Hills.

There are four basic ways that students can move around in Massachusetts schools. All are governed by state law, and all are tied to their political and historical context.

1. School choice: Students in any Massachusetts town can apply to transfer to a school outside of their home district. If they are accepted, the sending town pays $5,000 plus any additional special education costs. That amount was set by Massachusetts General Laws ch. 76, Section 12B(4)(f), which states, “Said tuition amount shall be equal to seventy-five percent of the actual per pupil spending amount in the receiving district for such education as is required by such non-resident student, but not more than five thousand dollars.” This law was enacted in 1991.
2. Tuition Agreements: Students living in local towns that do not offer upper middle school grades or a high school can apply to BHRSD through tuition agreements. Their town pays $11,000 to $13,000, depending on the agreement, with most lasting three to five years. We have agreements with Richmond and Farmington River, which includes Otis and Sandisfield. Richmond’s provides for four percent annual increases and is up for an increase in 2026. Our agreement with Farmington River is up for an increase in 2028. (It initially increased at around five percent per year but now goes up three percent per year.) The last few times these agreements came up for renewal, BHRSD successfully negotiated increases and expects to do so again in the future.
3. Career, Vocational, and Technical Education (CVTE): Students interested in pursuing CVTE tracks may apply to transfer to a school with state-approved CVTE programs. BHRSD sends out and receives in students for vocational opportunities. The cost is roughly $18,000 per student, plus transportation. Sending towns cover this cost, so they are not taken out of the district’s budget.
4. Charter and Virtual Schools: Students who live in the BHRSD towns can also apply to attend virtual or charter schools. The cost of those programs is $13,000 to $25,000, and the cost must be covered by the sending district.

If you simply look at the $5,000 that follows them, that number might seem unfairly low compared to the quality of education they receive and the amount Berkshire Hills assesses its towns. However, when you understand the marginal or incremental costs of educating school-choice students, the savings to taxpayers is clear.

The key insight is that adding one more student to a classroom doesn’t increase costs proportionally. Most educational costs are fixed or “stepped”:

1. Fixed costs don’t change when you add one more student:

• • The building is already there.
  • The teacher is already being paid.
  • The lights and heating system are already running.
  • Administrative staff are already employed.

2. Marginal costs are what you actually spend to educate one additional student:

• • Small amounts of additional supplies.
  • Perhaps some additional support services.
  • Possibly a small increase in some administrative costs.

For most school districts with available capacity, the incremental cost of taking on one more student is substantially less than the average per-pupil cost. If a classroom has 16 students and adds a 17th, the district incurs minimal additional expenses. This means that the $5,000 that follows a choice student is aa net financial benefit to the receiving district if their marginal costs are lower than that amount. This translates directly into tax savings for our member towns.

For example, last year we realized about $1.25 million in school choice revenue and about $725,000 in tuition revenue and applied that to offset this year’s assessment. Therefore, school choice and tuition revenue reduced the three towns’ assessments by almost $2 million (Great Barrington $1.49 million, Stockbridge $265,060, and West Stockbridge $240,964).

This model only works, however, when:

• The receiving school has available capacity,
• The number of incoming students doesn’t force the hiring of new teachers or staff, and
• The incoming students don’t require significantly more resources than average.

Sending districts are charged additionally for specialized services.

The school-choice funding model in Massachusetts is based on the economic principle that the marginal cost of educating an additional student is much lower than the average cost per student. As long as the schools in BHRSD have available capacity, accepting choice students with $5,000 is a break to taxpayers.

This is why I strongly encouraged the BHRSD School Committee to vote to continue to approve school-choice students, which they did unanimously at their May 1 meeting.

Dr. Peter Dillon
Superintendent of Berkshire Hills Regional School District
Stockbridge

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