Question For Candidate Chris Santee: Re School Choice

[David Shea]

Chris,

Yesterday afternoon on my drive home from Burlington, I saw you and several other candidates standing by the Exit 18 ramp in Georgia holding your campaign sign with one below it that said, "School Choice".  I was surprised that you support school choice.  In my opinion, the Fairfax School Board, administrative team, teachers, & supports staff do the best job that they can to provide a quality education under the demands set forth by State, Federal Guidelines and the existing NEA contract.


Can you explain to me why you support, "School Choice"?
What benefit would school choice be for the residents of Fairfax.
How would "School" choice change the Tax Structure for Fairfax?

Web link: to the Vermont School Choice Web Site:

http://www.schoolchoicevermont.com/legislation---h66.html

Web link to:  Act 153 (H.66) Voluntary School District Merger

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2010/Acts/ACT153.pdf

David Shea
 

[David Shea]

Chris,

You must be away from your computer today?  This is not like you?

[Chris Santee]

Hi Dave,
 
Thanks much for the question.
I support School Choice because I think parents know much better than I,
(or any other politician) where their children should attend school.
 
There is no connection here whatsoever with the Fairfax School Board or BFA's Administration job performance.
If you ask any one of them whether or not I support them,
they will all answer in one word. "Yes". Ask them.
 
I have one son who graduated BFA Fairfax and one going into third grade.
I love the school ! Come to a soccer, football, basketball or baseball game and I'm there,
supporting our student athletes too.
Sometimes I watch from centerfield for softball too !
 
The School Choice issue, if lost, could send Georgia's 9-12 student population to BFA Fairfax,
since our fine School Board keeps our cost per pupil lower than other schools.
I'm going to ballpark that figure at about 350 students INTO BFA-Fairfax.
 
Where are we going to put them ? Our enrollment would top 1,300.
 
# 1 We could spend multi-millions for an addition.
# 2 We could ship Elementary to Fletcher.
 
I don't want the government telling Georgia parents that
they MUST send their high school children to BFA Fairfax
and I don't want the government telling BFA Fairfax parents that
they MUST send their elementary children to Fletcher.
(Nothing against Fletcher, fine school, great principal).
 
I believe, from what you have written, that you are very happy with BFA Fairfax
and I will work very hard to defend your right to send your children there.

Carolyn, do you have anything to add ?

[slpott]

Very well spoken Chris. As a parent of 2 Fairfax students, I would be furious if they were taken to another town for school. I moved to Fairfax because of the school. I would guess that a lot of people from Georgia are in the same boat. BFA is wonderful just the way it is. We do not need to be changing dynamics. We have spectacular teachers and my boys love their teachers. If not, I would hope that I could make a change that would benefit my childs needs. Thanks for fighting for the betterment of the children.

[David Shea]

Chris,

From what I understand the student population at our school is actually on the decline.  Maybe having more students at the high school would be a good thing.  If the population continues to decline, then the staff to student ratios could force staff reduction.

I would like to know all of the facts regarding this issue before I am able to fully support it. 

The composition of your statements make this seem like an all or nothing situation.  Input from our local school board & administration would be appreciated.

Dave

[Carolyn Branagan]

Support of school choice has nothing to do with whether or not the local public school is well run or if the teachers are doing a  good job in the classroom. School Choice allows the parents to be the bottom line decision maker in the education of their   children. No school, public or private, can meet all a child's needs. My feeling is that parents are much better able to determine a  child's needs and make decisions than anyone else. To be a parent means to be involved in every aspect of your child's development and provide proper, timely support and guidance.

School Choice has  been important for the residents of Georgia for many years. Like Fairfax, Georgia has many new residents move into town in order for their children to attend the public school here. In addition, many of those folks move to town to have the freedom of sending their children to the high school that best fits their child's needs. Last fall over 400 people attended a school meeting where the strong positive sentiment to retain choice for our students was loud and clear.

My early work life was as a public school teacher and my training enabled me to hold professional certificates in elementary education, high school social studies, principal and superintendent of schools. When it came time for my own children to attend school, I insisted that they attend in Georgia. I love our local school here in Georgia. My children attended grade school here and I served on the board for 10 years. Even so, my husband and I chose to use school choice in the education of one of our children when we home schooled her.

One of the best things about serving in this position as state representative has been the pleasure of getting to know the fine people on Fairfax' boards. Those serving on the school board are some of the most dedicated, earnest public servants I know anywhere. Fairfax should be proud of them.

I strongly support school choice.

Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Frankin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives

 

[David Shea]

Chris & Carolyn;

Nice team effort on this one.

Having school choice is always an option... a family can move to the town where they chose to have their children educated.  As for home schooling I know several families who home school their children currently so I am not sure how the law will change anything.

This law just seems like another example of the "heavy hand" of our state government at work.  Show me hard facts and figures on how this new law will benefit education.  Feel good stories of our past experiences just do not cut it for me.

Show us how this will benefit the Vermonters.  So far what I am reading just does not cut it.  Makes me feel "scared & warm and fuzzy" at the same time, but is empty on details. 

Dave

[fletchtb]

I think you need to look at it from the Georgia side of things for a minute. Right now, for some residents of the town it is much more convenient to bring their children to BFA St. Albans. For others it is probably easier to send them to BFA Fairfax and then there are some where Milton is the most convenient option. By convenient, I mean less time travelling to and from school. Parents are also probably selecting a school based on which one they feel will provide the best education for their children.

For the town of Georgia, it would be less expensive to send all of their students to BFA Fairfax as the Fairfax tuition rate is lowest among the schools I mentioned. For BFA Fairfax a decision by Georgia to send all their children to Fairfax could be catastrophic. How could the school be expected to accommodate a 25+% increase in the number of students overnight? It could have a severe negative impact on the quality of education in Fairfax.

I don’t think your point about moving families around to the school district of their liking is a valid one. Yes we all have the choice to live where we want, but being able to pick up and move based on a school trend is not practical; especially, in this economy and slow housing market. What about families that recently moved to Fairfax because of the school system? They could be negatively impacted by a decision to eliminate school choice.

While I don’t like the idea of eliminating school choice now, I do understand that we need to work on ways to reduce the cost of education in Vermont. I just think there are better options to explore first. For example, I think the first step should be the consolidation of school districts. There are too many supervisory unions in the state that are all trying to accomplish the same thing. If we reduced the number of districts, I think the benefits would be twofold. First, we would be less staff to pay and second, the school districts could benefit from economies of scale. A larger district buying more paper and pencils should be able to get them at a lower price.

Just my 2¢ as a Fletcher resident.

Thanks,
Todd Baumeister

[rod anode]

chris dont sentd them to fletcher  I`m tring to send fletcher kids to fairfax

[cedarman]

I'm assuming "consolidating districts" means closing schools and busing students to one locations. 
Yes, it would result in slightly less staff overall, but increased transportation cost would have to be accounted for, as well as increased maintenance cost on school facilities due to higher student densities.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to creating larger schools that can offer a more diverse ciriculum for at a lower cost, but it ultimately takes a combination of a good board, teachers, support staff, AND parents to make a system more efficient.
An "economy of scale" benefit may figure in, but benefits from economies of scale decrease when size gets too large (waste increases, personnel productivity decrease, etc).

It's a good idea to consider, but needs to be approached very carefully, and would only be effective if people can set aside there personal feelings about their hometown school, and look at the numbers (as David is advocating for).

As for more students coming into fairfax being a good thing to offset current student declines - any decline in # of students is gradual where a forced relocation of all Georgia students to Fairfax would NOT be gradual.  Kind of like a flash flood due to a river diversion - there may not be time to prepare for it, and the entire system will be worse off (at least for a few years until everything can be corrected to deal with the higher flow).