“I think the financial returns are quite limited and actually questionable,” Fuller said, echoing a sentiment shared by other members.
Some members cast their votes with mixed feelings, pointing to widespread public opposition. The committee received dozens of communications from residents opposed to school choice.
“I think that trying school choice is probably the right thing to do and I think we failed to gain our community’s trust in the aftermath of the strike,” said member Amy Davenport, who decided against joining the program.
“Our primary goal has to be getting more Newton families to choose Newton,” she added. “And I don’t think we will achieve that by further dividing the community right now.”
The district has lost more than 1,000 students over the last five years.
The committee had been talking about joining the program since at least January, when state education officials took part in a presentation about the program. Weeks later the district found itself enmeshed in a two-week teacher strike.
Only Chair Christopher Brezski supported joining the state program, although he proposed scaling back Nolin’s recommendation to 30 students. Member Anping Shen abstained.
“I think this can be done in a reasonable risk mitigation way,” Brezski said.
The program would have operated separately from Metco, the voluntary racial integration program that allows Boston students to attend Newton and other suburban districts, which could have provided unsuccessful applicants for that program another way into Newton.
Newton expected most students would have come from Boston, Watertown, and Waltham because of their proximity.
The state’s school choice program, which began in the mid-1990s, has long been controversial. In order to fund the program, the state redirects aid from districts losing students to those districts that the students choose to attend.
State law automatically enrolls districts in the program, and each year school committees across the state can vote to opt out. Most of the state’s more than 300 districts participate in the program, which currently involves more than 17,500 students statewide and the reshuffling of $130 million in state aid.
However, most districts in Greater Boston have kept their doors closed to school choice, according to a Globe analysis.
Among the big financial unknowns for Newton was whether the state aid that comes with students would fully cover their educational costs, especially for students with disabilities. The state provides incremental increases in state aid depending upon the complexity of a student’s disability.
“I still see a significant potential downside on the financial side,” said Rajeev Parlikar, a Newton School Committee member. “Except for the small number of significantly under-rolled elementary school classes that we have, I see no educational upside.”
Emily Prenner, the committee’s vice chair, said she doesn’t like how school choice creates a system of winners and losers, as some districts benefit financially from other districts losing students to them.
“We need additional funding.. but I don’t think school choice is the way to do it,” Prenner said.
Nolin continued to advocate for her recommendation up until the committee voted.
“I have optimistic feelings about this program because I successfully ran it in my district for a long time, and it was really life-changing money for us to do programmatic additions,” said Nolin, referring to her time as superintendent of Natick Public Schools .
Natick, however, opted against accepting new school choice students for the current school year.
During public comment, one speaker raised concerns about Newton taking part in the program. Robin Boger, who has two grandchildren in Newton schools, said she believed the superintendent’s recommendation requires a more in-depth analysis before moving forward, noting the costs of educating choice students could change over time as they progress into middle and high school.
“How will we be able to evaluate the ultimate cost benefits of opening Newton up to school choice if we cannot identify and quantify the very real deferred costs associated with increased enrollment?” Boger said.
James Vaznis can be reached at [email protected]. follow him @globevaznis.
