Up-Island School Lesson

The Up-Island Regional School District dodged a bullet this week when West Tisbury voters refused to cut the district’s budget despite a strong argument to the contrary from both the town finance committee and the three selectmen; as a result school administrators may breathe a little easier knowing that they will not be forced to make cuts in educational programs.

But rather than take this moment as a victory, school leaders would do well to take it as a lesson and a moment for careful evaluation of the issues at hand. Speaking in favor of the proposal to cut some two hundred thousand dollars from the school district’s budget at the annual town meeting on Tuesday night, West Tisbury selectman Cynthia Mitchell spoke about the need for better management of the school district. The school committee, she said, has been treating the two elementary schools in the district as independent schools when in fact they comprise a region.

However you may feel about school spending, Mrs. Mitchell makes an excellent point. The heated discussion this year around the budget needs of the up-Island school district revolves around the fact that the West Tisbury and Chilmark Schools are seeing a shift in enrollment patterns. Due to a projected increase in students next fall, the Chilmark School may need to add another kindergarten-first grade classroom. Meanwhile, at the West Tisbury School enrollment is falling slightly.

So is it prudent simply to expand the budget to accommodate the needs of more students in Chilmark when there is classroom space in West Tisbury? The district school committee may need to put its regional thinking cap on and look at better and more creative ways to manage student populations across the district. One possibility is the use of a student lottery for placement, a common practice in other school districts.

Vineyard voters have historically been generous in supporting school budgets, a reflection of the core Island values to provide high quality public education and enrichment for their children. But the sky is not the limit, and it cannot be denied that the roughly twenty-two-thousand-dollar per-pupil cost in the up-Island school district is approaching sky-high.