School choice program to continue into 2026-2027 school year

Dartmouth Public Schools' school choice program is set to return for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The school choice program, which began in 2016, gives high school students from neighboring towns the opportunity to attend Dartmouth High School. This year there are 105 students participating in the program, with nearly 50 coming from New Bedford.

"I think it's something that we should really promote and welcome other students from other communities that are interested in what Dartmouth has to offer," said Superintendent June Saba-Maguire during a School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Students who apply for school choice are selected through a lottery system when there are more applications than seats available. For the incoming freshman class, the school is aiming to enroll 35 students through school choice. So far, 28 students have applied for the program.

"School choice is something that is a great benefit to our school community for lots of different reasons, but certainly we have and welcome students from other communities that are interested in what Dartmouth Public Schools has to offer into our high school," Saba-Maguire said.

Through the school choice program, Dartmouth Public Schools also receives $5,000 for each student enrolled — an amount that has not changed since the program was established in the state 35 years ago. This money comes from the community in which the student lives and is not state funding.

Oliver questioned why there hasn't been a rate change since the program's inception.

James Kiely, the assistant superintendent of finance and operations, said that he met with Rep. Christopher Markey and Senator Mark Montigny to discuss school choice rates.

"I think it's obvious that this does not make sense, and I also think that it's solvable, like it's not going to require any additional state funding to change the rate because all it is is coming from another community," Kiely said.

He noted that the cost of educating students has increased since the program begin and said "the hope would be that they address it."

He acknowledged that changing the rates is most likely not high on the priority list, which isn't something the school district has control over.

The school choice program is currently limited to the high school, though several School Committee members expressed interest in determining whether extending the program to the middle school would be possible.

"I would say there's been some discussion, but I don't think it has gotten to a point where we're having really serious conversations about that," Saba-Maguire said, "But if that is something that the committee really wants us to focus on, it is certainly something that we can spend more time studying over the course of the upcoming year."

One factor the district would need to consider is whether the middle school has the capacity to enroll students from outside of Dartmouth.

"If we had an opportunity to, and only if we have the capacity ... that would be the only way that I'd be agreeable to it," said School Committee member Chris Oliver.

Other factors include spatial concerns and faciltiies concerns.

"I do understand [it's a] different situation than in this [the high school] building, but I think it's worth a look," said  School Committee member Mary Beckwith.

She noted, "I would like to know at the minimum if there were empty seats without increasing class size too much."

Oliver said that every year there are eighth graders who choose to attend other schools in the area, such as New Bedford Vocational Technical High School, rather than continue to Dartmouth High School and noted that if school choice is introduced at the middle school level that could mean that more students would stay in the district for high school.

"I certainly think it would be a way to maybe grow our high school even further," he said.