Chairman Jon Wilson and several members of the study group, which has considered consolidation options within the Act 46 framework, held an information session last week in Manchester.
A vote had been scheduled for today, but it was postponed to allow more time to prepare a report including details of the proposed merger, Wilson said Friday.
The 17-member study committee will decide by majority vote whether “it is advisable” to prepare a report for presentation to the state Agency of Education as the first step in the approval process. Wilson said he expects a yes vote. “I believe this will happen,” he said.
However, he also stressed that the vote is only the first step in a process that ultimately would come back to the individual towns for approval by voters.
The study committee involves Danby, Dorset, Manchester, Mount Tabor, Sunderland and the communities in the Mountain Towns Regional Education District (Londonderry, Landgrove, Peru and Weston). Last fall, the school boards of these districts agreed to form the 17-member study committee, with the number of representatives from each district determined by population.
Working with its consultant, former Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union Superintendent Daniel French, the committee will compile the merger details it has worked out for a report to the Education Agency, Wilson said. The agency could then approve the plan and pass it on to the State Board of Education for approval, reject the plan, or ask the committee to consider revisions, Wilson said.
If approvals are obtained at the state level, Wilson said, the proposal likely would come before the individual town meetings in the spring. The goal would be to secure all local approvals by July 1.
Committee members explained the proposed merger blueprint, which has evolved during some 16 meetings and information sessions this year.
If a regional district is formed, Wilson said, the new school board would have 13 members, with at least one seat for each of the nine towns. Only voters in a given town could sign candidates’ petitions to get on the ballot to represent that community. However, voters from all the towns would decide who wins each seat.
The study committee proposes that the remaining four district board seats be elected at large from among candidates in the four largest towns: Danby, Dorset, Londonderry and Manchester.
The new regional board and the current school boards would exist simultaneously for a time, with the regional board expected to take over management of the merged district on July 1, 2018.
At that point, there would be a single districtwide budget, and towns’ equalized tax rates also would be the same after a transition period. The proposed name for the new entity is the Taconic and Green School District.
Act 46, which encourages Vermont school districts to consolidate, includes a tax incentive for towns that complete a merger process by July 1: an 8 cent school tax rate cut in the first year and reductions of 6, 4 and 2 cents over the next three years.
Under the law, the tax reductions are to be funded through the state’s education fund, meaning districts that do not consolidate will essentially help pay for cuts for districts that do, committee members said.
In answer to questions, Wilson and others said forming a new district would not necessarily result in lower taxes over time but that the larger student enrollment and consolidation of educational services should help stabilize tax rates.
Among the difficult issues the committee has dealt with, members said, is whether Sunderland and Danby would give up their current policy of allowing choice for students in grades seven and eight. That would be required for them to join the merged district, because Act 46 would not allow choice for grades that the new merged district’s schools offer. The Manchester, Dorset and Londonderry districts operate grades seven and eight.
Grandfathering options concerning choice policies are being considered.
Choice for all students in grades nine through 12 would continue in the merged district.
Wilson said the proposal also calls for larger districts to be considered “necessary districts,” including Manchester, Dorset and the Mountain Towns RED. If any of those vote down the merger, it couldn’t go forward, he said, while a negative vote from other town districts would not block the merger.
Under Act 46, the state also could order districts to consolidate after Nov. 1, 2018. Asked whether the committee should wait to learn whether the new governor or Legislature revises the law, Wilson said, “It could change by (next spring), but we should be prepared to go forward.”
If politicians running for office have voiced opposition to aspects of Act 46, he said, that doesn’t necessarily mean the law will be changed.
More information on the merger committee’s work is available here.
