PORTLAND - In the 1990's Winhall, a tiny village tucked into the hills of southern Vermont, faced a serious dilemma; impose massive property tax increases on residents or close the public school. The small town of 700 chose the latter, and 10 years later have a thriving private school that educates children for less, offers more curriculum choices, and has better student achievement. What seemed like a no-win situation resulted in a great boon for Winhall.

Closing a public school and then reopening it as a private institution may seem like an extreme course of events. However, for Winhall, the process of privatizing the town's public school allowed the town to save their small school and prevented massive property tax increases that threatened the ability of residents to keep their homes.

A new report, The Mountain School at Winhall: How a Small New England Community Saved its School by Closing it, by Stephen L. Bowen, education policy analyst at The Maine Heritage Policy Center, examines the transformation process that yielded a greater student achievement and a thriving school.

"As towns in Maine struggle to comply with a school district consolidation mandate that threatens the state's smallest districts, school and community leaders are looking for alternatives. Privatizing public schools is a viable solution that has proven enormously successful in Vermont," said Bowen. "Maine education leaders should pursue the Winhall model as an alternative to massive school consolidation."

In August, Bowen wrote a report that examined how privatizing small public schools may be a means of protecting those schools from closure under the newly passed school consolidation law by the Maine Legislature. The report, Saving Our Small Schools: Is Privatization an Option?, concluded that Maine state statute appears to allow for the privatization of a public school in a manner similar to what transpired in Winhall.

"Privatization of public schools provides communities with the ability to keep their local schools and maybe even reduce their school costs," said Bowen. "While having a town no longer operate its own educational facilities may seem like an extreme step, under the newly passed consolidation bill, privatization may be the only means by which towns can retain some say over their local community schools."

Findings from the Mountain School in Winhall, Vermont:

Eighty-nine percent of the school's students scored at or above grade level on the most recent New England Common Assessment Program, 22 percent higher than the average for the state Vermont, which routinely ranks among the highest performing states in nationally standardized tests.

Winhall community spends less per-pupil today than it did before going private a decade ago. Having more control of curriculum and programming has allowed the school to maximize its educational dollar to the extent that even today yearly spending grows at a rate well below the state average.

The privatization of the Winhall School was driven by declining student achievement and a new Vermont law that threatened the community with significant tax increases. Privatization resulted in a much better school at a lower cost to taxpayers.

Privatization required visionary leadership, a plan that had widespread appeal, and extensive support from the community. Today, the resulting success of the school at Winhall shows the power of the independent-school model.

Because Maine has a similar tuitioning program and a long tradition of publicly-funded independent schools, privatization of the sort found at Winhall may be an option worth exploring for Maine's small communities and school districts.

Bowen's reports are available at: www.mainepolicy.org.