MANCHESTER — A group of Manchester residents wants the town to ask Burr and Burton Academy to take over the town’s public school.
Brian Vogel, a former Manchester Elementary Middle School board member, said the goal is to place the option on the table as an alternative to a school district consolidation proposal for grades kindergarten through 8, being developed by the area’s Act 46-inspired Northshire Merger Study Group.
That plan, which is expected to go before voters during the annual March town election, would merge nine town school districts for students in the elementary and middle grades, with supervision provided by a new 13-member regional board. School choice at the high school level would remain as it is today, with the private Burr and Burton Academy the most often selected high school among the towns.
Vogel said his group acknowledges there are many questions that must be answered before determining whether a private high school could take over operation of an existing K-8 public school. But he and others believe it could be a better alternative for Manchester.
The public MEMS now is overseen by a five-member local board, he said, but a regional board with a proposed 13 members from nine area towns would mean Manchester’s control over the education of K-8 students would be “diluted considerably.”
As for the prospects of gaining state Department of Education approvals for having Burr and Burton absorbing the lower grades in Manchester, Vogel said it would be similar to when North Bennington closed its public school and created a private school at the site. A major difference, he added, is that Burr and Burton is already firmly established and has an excellent academic reputation.
“There is nothing, to my knowledge, [from the state’s perspective] that would prevent it,” he said.
The BBA option study group plans an informational forum on the idea on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Manchester Community Library.
In a release announcing the meeting, Jedd Pellerin, a parent of students at BBA and MEMS, stated, “We don’t yet know what the Northshire Merger Study Committee will develop based on Act 46 and its requirements. When our community is faced with a decision, I would like to see at least two alternatives for us to choose from, rather than feeling locked in to a single option.”
Before the group decided to mount a petition drive to place the referendum question on the ballot in March, Vogel said he checked with Mark Tashjian, headmaster at Burr and Burton Academy, and was told, “If the town requests it, the school would certainly look into it.”
The citizen group, which would need at least 190 voter signatures to add the referendum to the ballot, is preparing a list of frequently asked questions about the proposal and also plans to be visible on election day, Nov. 8, to gather signatures and distribute information.
The proposed ballot question reads: “In order to explore all options available to the town under Act 46, shall the Town of Manchester request that Burr and Burton Academy examine the possibility of operating Manchester Elementary Middle School, in whole of in part, as part of the town academy?”
Jon Wilson, chairman of the Northshire Merger Study Group, which is developing the district merger proposal, said Tuesday that the Burr and Burton proposal could have benefits for Manchester, but it also could have almost immediate negative tax impacts for the town and the other towns discussing the consolidation.
Under Act 46, which seeks to encourage consolidation among Vermont’s school districts, tax incentives the nine towns now could receive under the legislation would be lost if the merger plan is not adopted by July 1. Rejection by one of four larger towns in the merger talks, such as Manchester, would effectively defeat the proposal, Wilson said.
With the merger study group closing in on final details of its plan and a committee vote set for Nov. 7, Wilson said he now expects the proposal to go to the town meetings in March. If they pass the consolidation plan, Act 46 would allow for an 8 cent cut in the rate in the first year of the merger, and reductions of 6 cents, 4 cents and 2 cents in succeeding years, he said.
In addition, there could be penalties for the towns not adopting a plan, he said, and Manchester and the other eight towns would still be helping to pay for the tax breaks other towns receive through Act 46, because of the “closed loop” nature of the state’s education fund.
Such negative impacts also could harm Manchester’s “relationship with its neighbors, all of whom would lose out too,” if Manchester rejects the merger option, he said.
Vogel said he believes academy could have three general responses after considering the proposal: “They are not interested; or they could say they will take Grades 5 through 8; or they could say, yes, we will take all K through 8 grades.”
In addition to needing State Board of Education approvals, the plan also would have to consider the impacts on MEMS teachers and other staff members, and need to meet town voter approval for a proposed school budgeting system, plus the expected impacts on tax rates, he said.
One typical issue in switching from a public to a private school — shifting teachers from a union to a nonunion work place — would likely not be a factor, Vogel said, as Burr and Burton’s teachers are unionized.
The academy currently is the high school choice for most students from Manchester and from most local towns, and the school annually sets a tuition figure that is then voted on during the annual town meetings.
Burr and Burton has 680 students in Grades 9 through 12, according to its website, and the Manchester Elementary Middle School has about 403 students, Vogel said.
Vogel said his term on the MEMS School Board was ending in spring 2016 when the Act 46 study group began considering school consolidation proposals. A separate ad hoc group also formed at the time, he said, to look at the option of forming a private school from MEMS, but over time that group stopped meeting.
However, “It later dawned on me to ask BBA to take on more grades, and I talked to Mr. Tashjian,” Vogel said.
He added that, at this point, Burr and Burton “is not involved in the effort in any way.”
If the option is ultimately accepted by the town, Vogel said, Manchester would “essentially become a choice town pre-K through 12,” with Burr and Burton accepting students in all grades. He said MEMS would likely close as a public school and be operated as a town academy by BBA.
Suzanne Moore, another member of the group seeking consideration of the Burr and Burton option, said she understands that Manchester is nearing a consolidation agreement with the other town school districts. If Manchester gets to the point it must accept a merger because of pressures inherent in Act 46, she said, residents should also have an another alternative, such as working with Burr and Burton.
Having that option explored and vetted “would create another option and we would put ourselves in a better position,” she said.
