Wallkill Valley HS may drop out of choice program
HAMBURG — Wallkill Valley Regional High School's first year in the state School Choice Program could be its last.
School Superintendent and Principal Edward Bolcar told the Board of Education at its Oct. 29 meeting the state Department of Education has capped the School Choice Program at the school at eight additional students for the 2014-15 school year and said he will not keep the school in the program if that is the case.
However, Wallkill Valley is not the only school to be capped.
According to the Department of Education, the Interdistrict School Choice Program in New Jersey has been so successful that the cost of tuition for the DOE has skyrocketed, causing the state to set limits on the number of openings districts in the program can allow.
Another factor Wallkill Valley officials needs to consider is their appointment of School Choice Coordinator Lindsay McAloney for the 2014-15 school year. Bolcar said if the district is capped off at 8 for the future, the program, as well as the coordinator, is no longer needed.
Although McAloney understands this, she said she feels for the students, “i’d hate to see happy students from the choice program have to leave if this is eliminated.”
"I'd hate to see happy students from the choice program have to leave if this is eliminated," she said.
When the district was initially approved, Wallkill Valley was given a seat availability of 20 freshman, 20 sophomores, and 10 juniors. McAloney has been in touch with The Department of Education and was told Wallkill was only allotted a 5 percent increase in School Choice students for next year. Since Wallkill only has 8 students in the program, that 5 percent comes out to 0.4 students.
Jessani Gordon, director of the Department of Education, has denied her request to round that number up to one student.
Despite the cap, Wallkill Valley will still host an Open House for potential school choice students on Nov. 14. Although there are no longer choice spots available at Wallkill, there are still 42 open to any student who is willing to obtain their own transportation.
When the Interdistrict School Choice Program started in 2010, it only involved 15 schools. Amongst those 15 schools, there were fewer than 1,000 students enrolled. Since then, there are now 136 approved choice schools with 5,500 students. The cost per student tuition has stayed at $10,000. That will be an increase from 2010-11 to 2014-15 of $45.2 million.
There are currently 13 schools enrolled in the School Choice Program in Sussex County.
Some schools may be capped at 25 percent of the number of seats they have requested, or a 5 percent enrollment growth for next school year.
Some schools, including Wallkill Valley, some may not be able to add any. In many cases, schools may reconsider their involvement in the School Choice Program.