[joyfulgirl13]

Hi all-
Does anyone know if there is School of Choice in Connecticut, specifically in Fairfield County and New Haven County?
Thanks in advance!!
Rebecca

[CTartist&musician]

Hi Joyfulgirl,

So sorry I misinterpreted your post about the schools. I didn't mean to get bogged down in a conversation that you did not care for. Some people do find info about the differences in the school systems very helpful. Are these the kind of schools you were referring too? They are in the Fairfield/Trumbull area. Please forgive me if I don't understand the meaning of "School of Choice".

Cooperative Educational Services: Regional Center for the Arts

Here are some stories on the new Science and Technology Magnet School that will be taking students from all over the upper Fairfield County area. I have seen the progress and it looks like it will open soon. It is right on the Trumbull/Bridgeport line. In fact the land used to be Trumbull's but there was some sort of land swap so the school could be build.

New magnet school on the horizon for region - Connecticut Post

Spaces still open at new science high schools - Connecticut Post

Once again I am sorry about my posts in the other thread about the schools in this area.

[captain_hug99]

Unless things have changed dramatically in CT, no, you do not have school of choice.

For anyone else that wants to answer, many states have school of choice which means you can apply to attend any school within a certain region or even throughout the state (as in Colorado). You don't have to pay tuition or extra fees. If I live in Colorado Springs and want to send my child to a school in Denver I can as long as Denver accepts the child.

When I left CT, if you wanted to attend school outside of your school district, you had to pay tuition for that district, even if it was a public school. The thought on that was that your property taxes are not going to the school district if you attend outside of your area. Therefore the district that gains your children lose out on funding because they are educating your child without receiving your property tax dollars. You would pay a tuition based on the lost amount.

I just looked it up and found this: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pd...hoice_2012.pdf

If you look on page 72, there are some options for school choice, but not everywhere.

[willow wind]

No, in general CT does not have school of choice. Your child goes attends school in the district in which he or she lives. Within a town itself, various districts are assigned and that's where you child goes.

The City of New Haven does have a good number of magnet schools which are technically open to all city residents and to residents of suburban districts. However, students living within the neighborhood district of each magnet have first choice. All magnet schools in New Haven are by application & lottery. There is also no guarantee that the child will be accepted to that magnet every year.

Basically you can't move to Norwalk and send your kids to school in Westport or move to East Haven and send your children to Madison schools, unless you are willing to pay the tuition and they have room to accept your child.

This is what happens when people try to evade the rules.

CT grandma loses bid in school residency case - Education - Boston.com

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by willow wind

This is what happens when people try to evade the rules.

CT grandma loses bid in school residency case - Education - Boston.com

I was hoping someone would bring this one up.

A Milford resident used her mother's address to enroll her children in.............................Stratford.

Go figure...

[joyfulgirl13]

Originally Posted by CTartist&musician

Hi Joyfulgirl,

So sorry I misinterpreted your post about the schools. I didn't mean to get bogged down in a conversation that you did not care for. Some people do find info about the differences in the school systems very helpful. Are these the kind of schools you were referring too? They are in the Fairfield/Trumbull area. Please forgive me if I don't understand the meaning of "School of Choice".

CTartist&musician...No worries! No need to apologize. I'm actually very interested in hearing all about the schools in the areas that we are looking, it's just that I need to narrow southwestern CT down to the areas we can afford and what we will like. THEN I'll be able to focus on more of the details like schools, etc.

This is how what we call "school of choice" in RI is defined:
"School choice is a term or label given to a wide array of programs offering students and their families alternatives to publicly provided schools, to which students are generally assigned by the location of their family residence. In the United States, the most common option offered by 'school choice' programs are educational voucher programs. These programs offer a given student and their family the option to take a subsidy from public educational funds and put that money towards tuition in private schools. This subsidy may also be accomplished through tax-credit programs. Other 'school choice' options include open enrollment laws that allow students to attend other public schools and charter schools, and homeschooling."

I'm interested in finding out if we have the option of sending our daughter to other schools than just the ones that are assigned to our neighborhood. i.e.: We're finding that Milford may be the best option for us commuting wise but I would like for our daughter to attend Guilford schools. Any idea if that's an option?

[willow wind]

OP- you're really not reading the responses given to you or reading through the links given.

I would suggest you do this. Monday morning, get on the phone and call the Board of Education in Guilford and ask your question . You'll get an answer. They're open. That's the only way to resolve your question.
You need to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak.

[KH02]

My advice...if you want your child in Guilford schools, then move to Guilford!

[joyfulgirl13]

Originally Posted by KH02

My advice...if you want your child in Guilford schools, then move to Guilford!

Are you for real?! What a very....um....insightful suggestion. Seriously, I'm shaking my head in disbelief. Obviously the easy answer is to live in the town in the school district that one wants their child to attend. Obviously. However, in our situation, my husband will be working in Fairfield and we're trying to choose an area to live in that is not such a long commute for him. Hence asking the question about school of choice.
Thanks for the laugh, but please don't waste people's time and bog their threads down trolling around.
Thanks.

[joyfulgirl13]

Originally Posted by willow wind

OP- you're really not reading the responses given to you or reading through the links given.

I would suggest you do this. Monday morning, get on the phone and call the Board of Education in Guilford and ask your question . You'll get an answer. They're open. That's the only way to resolve your question.
You need to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak.

You're right, willow wind....I responded to Jay's post before I read the others. I was a bit overwhelmed at the moment and didn't realize I had several posts from earlier to read.
Thanks for your suggestion.