Chicopee School Committee approves School Choice seats for 2026-27

Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Bellville discusses the School Choice program with the School Committee for the 2026-2027 school year.
Photo credit: ChicopeeTV

CHICOPEE — The Chicopee Public Schools School Committee approved 46 School Choice seats in grades 1-5 for the 2026-2027 school year during its April 15 meeting.

Deputy Superintendent for Academics Jennifer Bellville attended the meeting to give a presentation on the slots, which illustrated School Choice data from the past few school years.

There were 84 students enrolled in School Choice at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, a decrease of four students from 2023-2024. As of March 1, there are 74 students currently enrolled in School Choice, a decrease of 10 students from 2024-2025. There were eight new School Choice students accepted in 2025-26, with 31 slots being offered in grades 1-5.

School Choice gives parents and their children the opportunity to enroll in whichever school they feel best fits their needs outside of their own district. This can include a neighboring public, private or charter school.

In 2025, out of the 6,553 students enrolled in Chicopee Public Schools, there were 74 School Choice students, which is 1.1% of the total district enrollment.

Bellville explained that the recommendation for the district is to offer 46 slots in grades 1-5 for the next school year, including 11 slots at Barry Elementary School, four slots at Bowe Elementary School, 13 slots at Bowie Elementary School, seven slots at Lambert-Lavoie Elementary School and 11 slots at Streiber Elementary School.

Bellville explained that Streiber School, in particular, has two very low class sizes in the first grade classrooms, but if they combine those two classes, that would equal 26 students.

“That’s too much second grade. We also know we have a lot of move-ins and move-outs, but we have room to add to those, so we looked at that everywhere in the district,” Bellville stated.

There were no recommendations for kindergarten, middle school or high school for the 2026-27 school year. Bellville said the district has made this recommendation for the past few years.

She explained, “Our kindergarten enrollment is significantly high already, but we also don’t recommend it for our middle or our high schools as far as whether it’s our class sizes, our programming and for a variety of reasons.”

The presentation also looked at the costs of School Choice for 2023 to 2025. In June 2025, Chicopee Public Schools enrolled 92 School Choice students, which brought in $469,470.

CPS also sent out 253 School Choice students, 189 of them from grades six through 12. It cost approximately $1.96 million to send students to other districts, a net loss of approximately $1.49 million.

Bellville stated that the costs of School Choice students leaving Chicopee Public Schools are taken from Chapter 70. “It’s not that we’re paying for it out of a line in our budget. It is already taken off of our Chapter 70 funding, however, our incoming students, we do receive revenue for.”

The majority of 253 students, more than half of those in grades 6-12, are attending virtual schools. “A lot of that has to do with social, emotional needs, and so that is a big thing for us,” Bellville stated.

Bellville stated that virtual schools are a major reason why CPS has more students leaving than entering the district.

“Our virtual school numbers are extremely high because it offers a different education platform for students, as well as to charter schools. That’s another big population,” Bellville stated. “We do know that some families, because of employment, go to other places. I looked at all of the numbers across the board to see where our largest population was going, and it’s really those virtual academies,” Bellville said.
The School Committee’s vote to offer 46 School Choice slots for grades 1-5 for the 2026-27 school year was unanimous.