[B]RATTLEBORO — There’s a lot working against Act 46 school district merger talks in Windham Southeast Supervisory Union.
One of the five towns involved has pulled out of the discussion entirely. Staunch opposition is evident in another town. Legal questions are pending. And a clock is ticking, with deadlines for an “accelerated” merger rapidly approaching.
Nevertheless, those who want to see one of the state’s largest supervisory unions merge into a single school district are trying to push ahead. That was apparent during a long, tense meeting here Wednesday night as the union’s Act 46 study committee laid the groundwork for a possible vote.
“We’re very tight on time, but we do have enough time,” said Alice Laughlin, of Putney, the committee’s chairwoman.
Several people don’t see it that way, including committee member Ian Torrey. “My feeling is that we’ve done some good work here, but I think the timeline is already too short, realistically, to proceed,” Torrey said.
Act 46, Vermont’s controversial attempt to cut school costs and equalize educational opportunities, pushes for larger, consolidated districts statewide by 2019. Windham Southeast’s study committee has spent months examining the quickest merger option with the most state tax breaks attached: an “accelerated” merger of all school boards in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney and Vernon.
Such a merger would need approval by voters in all five towns by June 30.
The study committee has logged many hours of work since last year, but there have been complications from the start. One major stumbling block is Vernon’s unique school choice setup, which would be jeopardized by a merger with other Windham Southeast districts.
That concern, among others, led Vernon’s school board to pull out of the union’s current merger study late last month.
The study committee has continued to meet with no Vernon representatives at the table, with some people arguing that the five-town merger vote should happen with or without Vernon actively involved in the discussions.
But questions linger about what the committee can do, and members voted unanimously Wednesday to ask the state Agency of Education to hurry its legal opinion regarding the panel’s options in light of the Vernon School Board’s decision to withdraw.
Until that guidance arrives, some study committee members said they could not vote on proposed articles of agreement for an accelerated merger. “If we had (the state’s opinion), I would be more comfortable,” said Beth Bristol, a representative from Guilford.
In addition to legal uncertainty, Act 46 study committee members face pockets of vehement opposition from those who argue that the accelerated merger process has been too fast and not sufficiently transparent.
Several consistent critics are residents or school board members in Dummerston.
“I think Dummerston is really very, very concerned about this for the reasons we have talked about for six months now,” resident Jody Normandeau told committee members Wednesday. “I think you’re making a mistake in rushing this through, because I think you’re going to lose.”
“It’s torn this district apart, unfortunately,” Normandeau added. “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful, working supervisory union. And now you’ve got everybody at odds with everybody else.”
But some say it’s only fair to let the five towns weigh in, whether the merger plan passes or fails. The study committee Wednesday took a step toward that by voting to allow candidates for a new unified school board to begin circulating petitions to get on the ballot, since those school directors would be elected on the same day as a merger vote.
As chair of the study committee, Laughlin has been a strong advocate for allowing voters to have a say on an accelerated merger.
“I think it’s important for us to make a decision,” she said. “Those of us who would like to see this put in front of the voters need to say that.”
Laughlin lobbied unsuccessfully Wednesday night for a vote on some or all of the study committee’s proposed articles of agreement for formation of a unified “Windham Southeast School District.” Those articles have to be reviewed by the Agency of Education and approved by the state Board of Education before the towns can vote.
Even at Wednesday’s meeting, though, the merger articles continued to change. Committee members were tweaking a version of the document dated May 3, but as of Thursday afternoon, the version of the articles on the supervisory union’s website was still dated April 28.
Vernon School Board Chairman Mike Hebert didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting, but he said later that he’s concerned about the lack of finalized merger articles at this late date. “That’s the problem — no one knows what this (merger) means yet,” Hebert said.
The Act 46 study committee appears to be moving toward changes that may assuage some of Vernon’s concerns: For instance, all five districts would now be listed as “necessary” for formation of a consolidated district, meaning a negative vote in any one town would stop the merger.
Earlier, officials had been considering secondary merger language that would have made some towns “advisable” and could have resulted in a different type of consolidated district had all five not agreed.
Hebert said ensuring that Vernon would be deemed a necessary district might “make this more palatable.” But he also said town school board members have not discussed changing their stance, and they’ve also sought their own legal advice.
“We intend to take legal action if necessary to protect the town of Vernon, because we feel that what is happening could be harmful to the town of Vernon,” Hebert said.
