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Attending:  Lauren Poster - chair, Andy Reichsman – vice chair, Francie Marbury – Principal, Gail Chaine, Winton Goodrich – Associate Director of the Vermont School Board Association.

Meeting called to order at 8:45 am.

We discussed MASP to ensure that the pay order items for MASP were covered by revenue.  That led to a discussion  of MASP’s current financial situation.  We postponed this discussion to move to the topic of tuitioning in students.

Winton Goodrich arrived at 8:57 am to discuss tuition issues.  We filled Winton in on the history.  The risk we run is that there is no precedent for legal action.  There is a statute that gives us a different option.

He described a school choice High School option in the State of Vermont.

In Winton’s opinion, based on 16VSA subsection 821c,  Halifax could allow the student to attend MES.  They would keep the student on their ADM, we would get no tuition but Halifax would be responsible for any Special Education costs. This is not a legal opinion; we need to confer with Patti Page (education legal consultant) on this.

Rutland South (Walter Goetz) has a policy related to 821c.  Precedent: Tunbridge and Randolph do this across SU.

Lauren brought up the petition signed by 40 residents supporting tuitioning in for kids from nearby towns or who have attended Meetinghouse School.

Also for Patty to explore:  Historical precedent:  Parents were paying tuition to a Parochial School, but the LEA was still responsible for Special Ed costs.  That seems to have been superceded over the course of time.

Winton quoted16VSA subsection 826 – school Board or Board of Trustees of an independent school which proposes to increase tuition charges may establish tuition rates for special education programs..  Could that apply to us?  A Patti question.

The best way to go is to have a policy that clearly delineates differences – ”if a student lives within 5 miles of the town…..” that has been discussed and warned (hence a policy) so that there has been public input, then we couldn’t be questioned on capriciousness in selecting pupils.   Policy could include considerations such as diversity and numbers in the classroom.  A question as to whether attending Meetinghouse could be a consideration.  Winton strongly recommended that we get legal opinion from Patti Page.

After setting the policy, we would develop a procedure that would address how administrators would proceed.

The fact that we have other Halifax kids tuitioning in complicates the picture.

Lauren mentioned a new ruling in our area about a family that sent their child to private school and the town was still responsible for the Special Ed costs (Wendy had referred to this ruling); Winton was unaware of it.

It is important to keep in mind the distinction between the individual case of a Town sending a student to us vs. tuitioning in.

We decided to use our April meeting to have a discussion on tuition and get a sense of the town.  We will use the discussion to inform our actions on setting a policy. We will make efforts to publicize the tuition discussion at the April 7th meeting.  Winton left the meeting at 9:45 am.

We returned to our MASP discussion. Because the current two-week pay order began prior to the vote the Board took on February 4th - regarding no deficit spending - we decided the $80 shortfall does not fall under our directive.

Francie is recommending that we have a monthly projection of income for MASP that will then become the budget for the program for that month.

Gail told us that MASP’s expenses are in a special revenue account, distinct from MES’s accounts, so it won’t affect out cost per pupil.

It was noted there is a MASP Steering Com meeting on Wednesday Feb. 20th to get all parties together and get an accurate picture of the situation and determine how to present this info at Town Meeting. Lauren will attend.

Meeting adjourned 10:58am.

Respectfully submitted,

Andy Reichsman

Future Meetings:  March 10th at 7:00pm, April 7th at 7:00pm.

Pay Orders:            None