SAUGUS — Through documents obtained by The Item, the enrollment data for Saugonian students at the Northeast Metropolitan Vocational Technical High School for the last five years has been revealed, as well as additional information regarding the methodology that determines student allotment from each municipality that sends students to the Voke.
The highest number of students from Saugus at the Voke in the last five years was in 2019, when the town sent 179 students to the school.
Since then, enrollment of Saugonian students has fallen each year, with 125 students enrolled as of 2023.
Each of the communities with students who attend the Voke — Chelsea, Malden, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield, Winchester, Winthrop, and Woburn — are allotted a number of seats for their students, which is determined by the following methodology:
The Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School Charter allocates apportioned seats by city/town based on the number of students based annually according to the ratio of that town’s current grade 9-12 enrollment, as compared to the total grade 9-12 enrollment of the 12 community member districts. Once the total is determined, it is divided by the number of communities, which is 12, to determine the total number of seats available for each respective member town or city.
Currently, numbers for Saugus are low due to the lack of availability of unused spots from other districts.
With regard to payment amounts for capital and operating costs, the original agreement that is still in place for the school indicates that these costs will be based upon each municipality’s respective student enrollment at the Voke in their district. On October 1 of the year preceding the fiscal year, student enrollment in the districts is tallied to arrive at the total, and the ratio is applied to determine the appropriate cost amounts.
Saugus, the fourth-smallest district served by the Voke, sends the fourth-largest amount of students to the Voke, accounting for 9.3% of the school’s population.
