By Alice Waugh
A cost-estimate comparison by the Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) shows that Lincoln would pay considerably more to send students to Minuteman High School than to any of three other area technical schools, even if Lincoln withdraws from the Minuteman school district.
According to an analysis for fiscal year 2020 by the VEOWG (see below), if Lincoln were to send five students to Minuteman in fiscal year 2020, the cost would be almost twice as much per student ($55,911 vs. $29,503) if Lincoln were a member of the Minuteman school district than if it were not. The cost for sending those five students to one of three other schools instead—Assabet Valley Regional Technical School in Marlborough, Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford, and Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham—would range from about $21,000 to $24,000 per student.
The working group has also published a list of frequently asked questions summarizing the issues for Lincoln as well as a comparison of the academics and other features for Minuteman and the three other technical schools.
The VEOWG will host a public forum on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room to discuss the future of vocational, career, and technical high school options for Lincoln’s students. The forum is 12 days before the February 23 Special Town Meeting where residents will vote on a revised regional agreement for the Minuteman school district and also on whether to withdraw from the district.
All 16 towns in the district are voting at Special Town Meetings on the new regional agreement. Boxborough, Carlisle, Dover, Sudbury, Wayland, and Weston are also voting on whether to withdraw, potentially reducing the Minuteman district from 16 towns to 10.
Cost estimates for fiscal year 2020 compiled by the Vocational Education Options Working Group that assumes five technical school students from Lincoln.
If Lincoln withdraws from the district, it would not have representati0n on the Minuteman School Committee, and it would also have to pay non-member tuition of about $19,000 per student plus an $8,000-per-student share of capital costs. The town also would not be able to vote on the debt for the new building—nor would it be liable for repaying that debt, aside from the $8,000-per-student fee for any Lincoln students who attend Minuteman.
As a member of the Minuteman district, Lincoln would have to pay $24,000 per student toward the building cost as well as more than $29,000 in member tuition for each student.
“If our [VEOWG] committee was asked to say what we recommend, it would be unanimous” to advocate withdrawal from the Minuteman district, Braun said. He added that he was speaking for himself and could not speak for other town officials including the Board of Selectmen, which will hear the working group’s analysis on Monday, Feb. 8.
VEOWG members have been visiting the other technical schools, “and what we’ve seen so far is very gratifying [in that] that we have really worthy alternatives” to Minuteman, Braun said.
A condensed version of the VEOWG data as it appears in the group’s FAQ document (click to enlarge).
I imagine any Lincoln student applying would prefer the school within a twenty minute drive (Lincoln/Lexington) rather than at least an hour (Assabet, Keefe and Nashoba). All things being equal program-wise, they would also likely prefer the school that has new and up to date facilities.
That said, it seems incredible that it costs less to send a student as an “out-of-district” student than as an in-district student.