By Gareth Henderson, Standard Staff
Next week, voters in the Windsor Central Supervisory Union will decide on whether to become a newly unified district under the state statute Act 46, as outlined in a plan put forward by the WCSU’s Act 46 Study Committee.
The lengthy ballot item included in each of the six WCSU towns’ school district warnings, calls the new entity the “Windsor Central Unified Union School District.” Also next Tuesday, Plymouth will vote on whether to join the proposed unified district.
Each of these towns will decide this matter by Australian Ballot.
One of the major changes under the proposal, is that elementary schools in Barnard and Reading would become pre-K-4 schools, sending Barnard 5-6 grade students to Prosper Valley School and Reading 5-6 grade students to Woodstock Elementary School.
Furthermore, an 18-member board would govern the unified district, which would bring the current SU’s elementary, middle and high schools under the same governance structure.
The 93-page plan is viewable in its entirety at wcsu.net, with other related documents.
Proponents of the plan say its unified governance model would lead to greater equity in educational opportunities, more operational efficiencies district-wide, and greater educational success for the overall region.
Opponents say smaller districts, like Barnard and Reading, would lose control over education in their communities.
For the unified school district to move forward precisely as laid out in the local Act 46 plan, voters in all six WCSU districts – Woodstock, Reading, Barnard, Pomfret, Bridgewater, and Killington – would have to all vote in favor of the new district next Tuesday, according to Justin Shipman, the chair of the Act 46 Study Committee.
However, a unified district in some form could still happen with fewer than six school districts favoring the move.
By law, four or five towns voting in favor of this particular merger plan could become a unified district themselves. In that case, Shipman noted, there may need to be a proportional adjustment to the set-up of the unified school board.
As currently proposed, that 18-member board gives each district two members on the board, with the exception of Woodstock, which would have six members. That total of 18 includes two members for Plymouth, should it join the new district. The arrangement of the new board is according to Vermont state statute, which requires that “board membership must be structured to meet proportionality requirements of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S Constitution.”
According to state law, any district voting on the proposed Act 46 merger is allowed to submit a petition for reconsideration or rescission within 30 days of the merger vote.
Any district that votes against the Act 46 plan and chooses to remain outside of the newly formed union district, would still be required to comply with Act 46, including a requirement to: “submit a proposal to the State Board, individually or with other districts, to maintain its current structure, work with other districts in some way other than merger, or merge with other districts to form a different governance structure,” according to information on the Vermont Agency of Education’s website.
If the local Act 46 plan is approved, Shipman explained, the unified district would not go into operation until July 2018.
“Until July 2018, the current local boards are operating, setting budgets,” he said. “Zero restructuring in the first year.”
He added, “It allows a year of transition planning for this new board, to figure how to implement inter-district choice, how to make this transition smooth and beneficial to students.”
Act 46 is an education reform law passed in 2015. According to the state Agency of Education’s website, Act 46 “provides opportunities for school districts to unify existing disparate governance structures into sustainable systems of education delivery that are designed to meet identified State goals while recognizing and reflecting local priorities.”
More information on Act 46 and its merger requirements is available at http://education.vermont.gov/vermont-schools/school-governance. Click on “Governance Laws.”
This article first appeared in the March 2, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.