Public schools woo out-of-towners

Even as they are competing against charter schools and other options, Massachusetts school districts are increasingly embracing another form of choice.

Now, 149 of the state's 328 school systems open their doors to students from other cities and towns. They woo the students with promises of safer schools, full-day kindergarten, and perhaps a better shot at making the basketball team.

Only 32 school districts participated in 1991, after a law passed that allowed the transfers.

For years, systems refused to take advantage of the law because they were full, or because they didn't want to compete with one another. Now, many say they have no choice because of tight budgets and dwindling enrollment.

The law's aim was to improve education by forcing competition, and to appease those pushing for more freedom to choose schools.

Under the law, students may enroll in another school system, space permitting, and the sending district must pay a percentage of the cost to educate those students. This can amount to $5,000 per student.

Officials in participating systems say they accept students from other cities and towns because of the dollars that follow them. But they also grumble about districts snatching students, and deal with parents worried about out-of-towners edging their own children off the football team or the jazz band.

Though the number of districts accepting transfers is increasing, more than half of the systems, including Boston and Worcester, still reject the idea; school committees are required to vote each year to refuse the transfers. Some school leaders say they have no room; others say they don't want to increase competition for slots in classrooms that are relatively roomy today but that could be more crowded in the future.

''If you really want to come to our schools, move into the city," said Worcester's superintendent, James A. Caradonio. ''Are we here to make money, or are we here to provide a quality education?"

Other school officials say that if they are expected to accept students from other districts, they should be paid the full cost of educating students, like the independently run charter schools created by law in 1993. The $5,000 cap put into the 1991 law, along with extra expenses if a student needs special education classes, amounts to less than the state's average per-pupil cost. Other school officials voice concern that the school choice program puts urban schools at a disadvantage, because they have greater poverty and more challenges than suburban schools, and that this could lead to higher concentrations of minority students in certain districts.

''It destroys support for community schools," Joseph O'Sullivan, president of the Brockton Education Association, said of the public school-choice option. ''It's every man for himself."

Brockton's School Committee voted in May to allow the transfers, starting in 2006. Last year, the Brockton system lost 156 students and more than $820,000 to West Bridgewater and other nearby towns.

Statewide, the number of transfers has gone from 920 students the first year to more than 9,200 in the past school year.

Springfield started a school choice process for the first time last year, despite a budget crisis and low test scores. Henry Figueredo, executive director of the parent information center, doesn't have much money for advertising, and he isn't attracting many transfer students.

Last year, fewer than 10 students transferred to Springfield and 462 students left, taking $2.5 million with them, according to the state.

''If it's a ballgame, we're down," Figueredo said. ''It's tough to compete against the suburban schools."

Springfield isn't spending money to advertise for students, but other school systems are. Their superintendents acknowledge that they have had to become salesmen, like the heads of charter schools who try to lure students away from public schools.

West Bridgewater's superintendent, Robert H. White, said he took out newspaper advertisements and held public forums to push school choice because the tiny school system was facing teacher layoffs and dramatic cuts in programs. At public forums, White bragged about high test scores and small, family-style schools.

He compared West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High to Brockton High, so huge that many of the 4,000 students in Grades 9 though 12 use maps to find their way. West Bridgewater's has 480 students in Grades 7 though 12, and students have less competition for sports teams, clubs, and other programs, he notes.

''It's like 'Cheers,' " White said. ''Everyone knows your name."

In response to his pitches, almost100 students enrolled, mainly from Brockton and cash-strapped Bridgewater-Raynham. Almost $500,000 came with the students; the funds paid for the salaries of five teachers, a counselor, and the special education director. Some of the money also went toward math books, copy machines, and gear for the school's hockey team.

''It was all about survival," White said. ''Choice has been our lifesaver."

The Brockton system, which will start to accept students in the fall of 2006, is preparing a marketing plan that will tout full-day kindergarten, low-rate after-school child care, and a special school for the gifted. It plans to boast about the benefits of being big: The high school has a swimming pool, a planetarium, and more classes than tiny West Bridgewater.

''We're looking at a budget shortfall," said Maurice Hancock, a member of the Brockton School Committee who had voted against school choice for a decade in board meetings, but who now says it is a financial necessity. ''This gives us a chance to recoup that."

Patty Joyce, whose two sons have attended Brockton schools since first grade, said she hopes the school choice program will not displace students from popular programs, clubs, or sports.

''When you purchase a house in the city, you want to know that those programs will be available to your children," said Joyce, who is running for school committee.

Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill was one of the early users of the state law on transfers; it began accepting out-of-town students in 1992, and in open houses and through word of mouth, it began boasting about its college-preparatory programs and its security cameras. As an incentive, Whittier pays for a school bus to pick the transfer students up.

The effort has worked: Last year, 250 students transferred, bringing in almost $1.3 million in tuition.

To attract new students as well as keep its own, Greater Lawrence Technical School has eliminated low-level classes such as pre-algebra, toughened its graduation requirements; and added biotechnology and telecommunications programs. The high school also is finishing a $51 million renovation to attract more students and to compete with public and private schools. Greater Lawrence's superintendent, Frank Vacirca, has been promoting the changes in a weekly radio show aired during the school year.

''If Harvard were losing students to Stanford or Duke, and it was because of programs and personnel or facilities, do you think the Board of Trustees would embark on a capital campaign? " Vacirca said. ''This country is built on competition."

Like the charter school movement, competition among regular school districts is supposed to improve learning for all students, as well as offer them more choices. But Paul Reville, executive director of Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, said it is unclear whether the competition has made a difference educationally.

''The question is: Is this tension worth it for children?" Reville said. ''I think the jury's still out on this."

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.