Editor’s note: This article is by Howard Weiss-Tisman, of the Brattleboro Reformer, in which it was first published Aug. 28, 2015.
[P]UTNEY — Three Windham County school boards met last week to begin discussing the advantages, and challenges, of merging.
School board members from Putney, Dummerston and Marlboro sat down Tuesday to hear about Act 46, a new state law that offers school boards incentives to begin consolidation discussions.
Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Ron Stahley said the meeting Tuesday was a preliminary discussion for the boards to hear about the law and about the potential timelines for consolidation. Stahley said the Putney, Dummerston and Marlboro boards are only just beginning talks, but he said he saw some advantages to consolidation.
“I think there are real benefits to the smaller schools,” he said. However, he added, “Because of their limited budgets smaller schools can’t afford some programming and I think there are ways we can share resources.” Stahley said the school board members want to see more facts about what it would look like for the districts to dissolve and then come together under a single board.
Windham Southeast is going to put some information together, Stahley said, to show how much might be saved and also how programming could be shared among the schools to better serve students in all districts.
Stahley is talking to every school board in the district, which also includes Brattleboro, Guilford and Vernon. Marlboro is in Windham Central Supervisory Union.
“We are talking to all of the school boards to make sure everyone understands the implications of the act,” Stahley said. “We want them to understand what it would mean for each board.”
Act 46 offers heightened tax incentives to towns that approve a consolidation before July 1, 2016.
Any consolidation would require a townwide vote, ideally at the 2016 Town Meeting.
Schools that wait until 2017 would receive a smaller tax break. If schools do not join a district of at least 900 pupils before 2018, then the State Board of Education has authority to restructure districts.
Stahley stressed that every decision is up to the boards, and then to the voters in that town, but he said it made more sense for boards to be proactive instead of waiting for the State Board of Education to act.
“If the boards wait then they will be in an even tougher spot in a few years,” he said.
Stahley said the tax incentives offer real savings to the towns, especially if they proceed along an accelerated path and have a consolidation vote next year.
He said there was some enthusiasm among the board members Tuesday, as well as some concern and hesitation over moving too quickly.
“There is concern about local control,” Stahely said. “Boards want to know if there is a way to have a unified preK-12 board that still puts some decision making among local community members.” He said he will continue providing school boards with data, as well as encouraging the discussion at board meetings through the fall.
“Each board will have to make the final decision, and then it will be up to the communities to decide how it benefits them,” Stahley said. “It is our job to get the facts out and help the boards make a sound judgement.”
