Understanding School Funding

• Student counts and needs (grade level, low-income, special education, ELL)
• Assumed costs for those needs (set in state law and updated over time)
• Local ability to pay (income/property measures)

1,935 + 16 + 86 = 2,037

School Choice tuition follows where a student is educated, whereas Chapter 70 enrollment follows financial responsibility (resident town). Base tuition is $5,000 per student plus additional charges for any special education-related services.

• Choice-in: receiving district gets School Choice receiving tuition
• Choice-out: sending district pays School Choice sending tuition

School Choice Tuition

Sending district → Receiving district

NPS has 189 School Choice students as of the 2025-2026 school year; estimated revenue is $1,278,039 (avgeraging about $6,762 per student).

Because they are different measures. DESE per-pupil spending is a districtwide average and can reflect costs beyond day-to-day classroom operations, such as out-of-district placements and debt service.

School Choice tuition is set in law and capped at $5,000 for regular education (with a special education increment when applicable).

So $5,000 vs. the DESE per-pupil figure is not a good “profit/loss” comparison. When seats are offered where the district has capacity, Choice tuition can help offset fixed system costs incurred regardless of small enrollment changes.

• Enrollment stability when resident cohorts are smaller (supports steady staffing and sections)
• Program viability (helps sustain electives, specialized courses, and extracurriculars)
• Diversity and inclusion (broader perspectives and experiences in classrooms)
• Predictability for long-range planning (reduces cliff decisions tied to small enrollment shifts)

When a resident student attends a Commonwealth charter school, the student’s home community pays a charter tuition assessment to the charter school.

This is because the home community remains the student’s “financially responsible” district for school funding purposes.

To reduce the impact on sending districts, the state provides Charter Tuition Reimbursement (subject to appropriation).