Editor’s note: This article is by Lisa McCormack of the Stowe Reporter, in which it was first published Aug. 20, 2015.
[A] plan to merge the Elmore and Morristown school districts will be completed this week, then sent to the State Board of Education its for approval.
About 35 people attended a community forum last week to discuss the makeup of a single school board for the two towns, and to review a cost analysis of the plan.
Morristown and Elmore are looking at forming a “unified union school district” to help control rising school taxes in Elmore.
The idea came up in 2014, when Elmore residents rejected the school budget proposal to protest state inaction, which has led the education property tax rate to increase 70 cents per $100 of valuation over the past four years. That added $1,400 to the annual tax bill on a house worth $200,000.
A majority of Morristown and Elmore residents at the meeting favored having a seven-member school board, with Morristown and Elmore getting two seats each, and the remaining three elected at-large by voters in both towns.
According to the cost analysis, the merger would save about $490,000 and Elmore would pay $600,000 less per year in total school taxes.
While school taxes would increase slightly in Morristown, the merger would provide other benefits.
Now, Elmore sends 93 students to Morristown schools, and pays $1.2 million in tuition for them. A merger could keep those students from deciding to attend school elsewhere, and so keep the tuition money in Morristown. A merger could also help stabilize enrollment and the education tax over time.
The merger plan will go to voters in both communities Nov. 3; a majority vote in each town is needed for approval.
Act 46, passed this year, law pushes Vermont’s 277 school districts to consolidate with their neighbors and offer more educational opportunities to students.
Together, Elmore and Morristown have nearly 900 students — the minimum size sought for supervisory unions under Act 46. However, the two towns would not be a supervisory union themselves; Stowe is also part of the Lamoille South Supervisory Union, and that could be a complication.
Alternatively, the Elmore-Morristown district could petition the state to operate as an independent “alternative school governance structure.”
Stowe School Board members have been attending the meetings because a successful Elmore-Morristown merger could make it easier for Stowe to gain approval for an alternative school governance structure, something the board has voted to pursue.
If school districts serving students in all three towns can prove they are functioning well and meeting the objectives of Act 46, the state could be less likely to force them to merge, said Stowe School Board Chair Cam Page.
