Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that students will not be able to enroll in courses at other high schools if the same course is already offered by their home school, as one administrator said.

Next year, Merrimack Valley High School junior Nick Gelinas could enroll in courses at high schools as far away as Moultonborough or Gilford.

Under a new agreement between several area districts, the student actor and sporting event announcer could take an advanced broadcasting or journalism course at one peer institution and a theatre class at another.

“I’m actually really excited about this,” Gelinas, the student representative to his school board, said after the concept was unveiled at a meeting earlier this month. “It sounds like a great way to get more opportunities to our students, and I think most of the student body is really going to enjoy this.”

The Lakes Region High School Consortium, believed to be the first of its kind in the state, will allow students from member schools to enroll in any course at another school in the consortium, provided there is space and the student can get there on their own. The consortium will launch this summer.

As of Monday, Merrimack Valley, Belmont, Moultonborough, Winnisquam, Gilford, Laconia, Newfound and Franklin had all agreed to participate, according to Shaker Regional High School Superintendent Michael Tursi, who has spearheaded the consortium’s creation. Several other area school districts have yet to bring the proposal to their school boards.

Tursi described the consortium as in some ways a response to the school choice movement sweeping the education landscape in New Hampshire, which opponents contend threatens the future of public education.

“One of the things that we need people to realize is that there has always been school choice within our public school system,” Tursi said. “And this is just another example of how we as a public school system work collaboratively within our region to offer choice to our students within the public schools.”

It’s not yet clear how many students will take advantage of course offerings outside of their home school during the consortium’s first year.

However, “even if it helps one kid, I think it’s worth putting out there,” said Randy Wormald, the Merrimack Valley superintendent.

Scheduling and transportation will be the major barriers. Class periods in member schools vary in length and students must get to other schools themselves, though the inter-school agreement allows districts to provide transportation “on a case-by-case basis.” Depending on location, some schools will be more accessible than others. Merrimack Valley, for example, is within 20 minutes of only two of the other schools that have signed on so far, Franklin and Winnisquam.

Unlike a proposal currently under consideration to allow all students to enroll in any school district in the state, the consortium will not involve school districts exchanging funds based on the courses that students choose to take. Students will be required to spend at least 51% of their instructional time taking courses in their home high school.

Not all schools in the Lakes Region have jumped to participate in the consortium. In a blow to smaller districts in the region and to students who attend the Concord Regional Technical Center, Concord Superintendent Kathleen Murphy said she will recommend to her school board that Concord High not join the consortium.

“Students from Concord don’t need to go to another high school to take a course when we have that available to us,” Murphy said in an interview. “Our courses … are incredible … so it wasn’t a practice that would enhance opportunity for our students.”

Murphy also raised concerns about accessibility issues that could arise from the lack of transportation provided.

“That’s a disadvantage for some of our kids if, let’s say, it was something in Laconia” that a student wanted to take, Murphy said. “How do I get them there?”

While Tursi said he doesn’t want the consortium to be open only to students with access to a car, he recognized “logistically, it could be challenging.”

“That’s why we are going to look at it on a case-by-case basis if a student or their parent can’t transport them between schools,” he said.

While the consortium is meant to promote collaboration, Tursi said he doesn’t see it ultimately leading to districts working together to collectively maximize the courses they can offer as a consortium.

“We’re not looking to change our current program of studies based on interests,” he said. “We’re looking to make sure that the courses that we’re offering, we’re going to be able to offer those courses to any student in the Lakes Region that might want to take it.”

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.