The statement in the article that the Chilton District sends their busses "50 miles out of their way to pick up open-enrolled students from the Stockbridge School District" was based on the following observation.

On the morning of each school day a Chilton-contracted school bus has been observed traveling 12.5 miles from Chilton to the intersection of Moehn and Hill Roads in the Town of Stockbridge and back to Chilton for a total of 25 miles. The route was repeated after school for a total of 50 miles each day or 9,000 miles for a year.

Six students living on parcels detached to Chilton have been eligible for bussing. However, more than a dozen students open-enrolled into Chilton, whose parents are required by law to provide their transportation, have also been bussed by Chilton. Nationally, the cost of an average school bus route exceeds $30,000.

In reference to the objection of open-enrolled students being transported by Chilton, the question was asked "Truly, what benefit is the Stockbridge District getting by doing this?"

The answer is that the decision to open enroll made by some parents comes at a cost to the education provided to the majority of students who remain. The objection to bussing open-enrolled students is based on that cost.

The revenue needed to educate children comes from property taxes and state aid. Each school board levies a tax that is paid by all property owners, even though fewer than one in five have children in public school.

In addition, each district receives state aid in proportion to the value of the property within the school district.

Last year Stockbridge received $2,336 per student in state aid. This was less than one-half of the aid per student received by the average district. For each student open-enrolled out, however, the state transferred $6,663 from Stockbridge to the other district. The difference of $4,327 per student was made up by the taxpayers of Stockbridge, including the 80% who have no children attending school.

The total aid transferred from Stockbridge due to open enrollment last year represented the district's third largest expense. It accounted for 12% of all dollars expended.

With the Stockbridge schools being consistently recognized for providing an exemplary education, it simply is not fair to the students or taxpayers of the Stockbridge School District to shoulder this added fiscal burden.

There is also a matter of fairness to the taxpayers of a non-resident district such as Chilton. Their taxes covered the cost of the bussing provided to open-enrolled students.

A greater unfairness occurs, however, when taxpayers of the non-resident district have approved additional tax to pay for long-term debt incurred when new facilities are built. The tax is not levied against the families of open-enrolled students as they are not residents of that district.

To be more specific, this year the Chilton District levied more than $2,000,000 in taxes to pay for debt authorized by Chilton taxpayers to build their schools, pool and auditorium.

This debt was approved by and is being paid for by the taxpayers of the Chilton District. The use of the $20,000,000 worth of facilities by open-enrolled students is subsidized by the taxpayers of the Chilton School District.

This is the other side of open enrollment – a side which is seldom presented.
Dave Moscinski, Stockbridge School District administrator

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