Open Choice seats again exceed supply
Greater Hartford towns participation expected to rise nearly 11% in 2022-23 school year
Greater Hartford’s Open Choice school lottery program is expected to grow by nearly 11% in the 2022-23 school year as swelling demand continues to exceed the supply of seats, state numbers show.
According to state data, 2,297 Hartford students had applied to the Open Choice lottery my mid-april — around the same time as new students begin to be placed in a Choice school. The tally reflects an increase in demand for the program over last year, when there were 1,843 applicants.
Despite high demand for the program, aimed at addressing racial segregation by allowing Hartford students to attend a better-performing school in the suburbs, only 499 new Open Choice seats will be available to Hartford students next school year. The projected total Hartford resident Open Choice enrollment is 2,497, up from 2,251 this year.
The Sheff v. O’neill settlement agreement, which was finalized in March, requires that the state meet 100% of the demand for Choice seats among Hartford students over the next 10 years. Martha Stone, attorney in the Sheff case and executive director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said “we’re still pretty far apart.”
“I would say we still have a long way to go, because you still have huge numbers of kids wanting to go to the suburban districts,” Stone said.
The gap between Open Choice applicants and available seats doesn’t mean most applicants are losing out on a Choice option altogether. Most applicants also apply for an interdistrict magnet school or a technical school, which are seen as other remedies to racial isolation in Hartford Public Schools.
The jump in demand may also be slightly exaggerated. It is believed pandemic-related disruptions led to lower-than-usual application numbers last year, according to Kristina Jordan, director of school choice for the Capitol Region Education Council.
“The belief was that application numbers would increase this year,” Jordan said.
This year’s application numbers are “more consistent” with application cycles prior to the pandemic, according to Eric Scoville, a state Department of Education spokesperson.
Still, the significant number of Hartford students whose first choice is to attend a suburban school is worth considering in the first application cycle in the post-sheff era.
The numbers confirm that districts are not yet poised to dramatically expand their level of participation in the program.
Some districts who spoke with the Courant noted that they were already deep into planning their budget by the time the settlement was announced, while some administrators continue to voice concerns over cost and capacity.
The degree to which districts partici
pate in the program varies widely. Below is based on Open Choice enrollment from 2019-20 — the most recent school year for which district enrollment data is available.
Towns in the Farmington Valley typically receive the largest number of Hartford students through Open Choice, according to the data, but participation is mixed.
For example, West Hartford has traditionally welcomed the most Hartford students, but participates to a smaller degree based on percentage of overall student body than neighboring towns.
All towns have room for improvement, Stone said. According to her numbers, 336 applicants listed Wethersfield as their preferred destination but the district is only offering 18 seats. Farmington has open only 14 seats for 284 applicants — up from 140 last year.
Low participation is “not a commitment to try to be part of the solution,” Stone said. “And [Open Choice] benefits their students. Because when you have racially isolated, segregated school systems that are all Caucasian, that’s not right. [Open Choice] benefits everybody, that’s the whole purpose of integration.”
As part of the Sheff agreement, districts in the region stand to benefit from a handful of increased financial incentives for Open Choice participation.
Beginning fiscal year 2023, the state will increase the participation grants to districts by $2,000 per Open Choice student.
Participating districts that increase Open Choice enrollment by 20% will be eligible to share a $750,000 bonus grant, up to a maximum of $5,000 per student, also beginning fiscal year 2023.
The benefits are included in the state’s Comprehensive School Choice Plan, or CCP, which intends to “meet Hartford-resident demand for a diverse educational setting and includes a plan to increase access to Open Choice options as well as to magnet schools and technical schools to meet that demand,” Scoville said.
“As indicated in the CCP, we hope to support increased opportunities for participation in school choice through the additional investment in both magnet school and Open Choice options,” Scoville said.
Meanwhile, more than 6,000 students in Greater Hartford have been placed in an interdistrict magnet school or suburban school through the Open Choice program ahead of the 202223 school year.
“We hope families accept this amazing opportunity for a unique educational journey that offers students a choice where they attend school,” said Robin Cecere, regional school choice director for the state Department of Education. “These choices give students access to small class sizes, individualized educational programming, and specialized themes to ignite their interests, challenge their mind, motivate their best effort, and prepare them for the real world.”