By Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
School officials in Barnard and Reading are weighing their options after voters in these two towns on town meeting day decisively rejected a plan to join a new unified school district under Act 46.
Voters in Killington, Woodstock, Pomfret, Bridgewater, Reading and Barnard were all asked to vote “yes”
or “no” regarding adoption of the Windsor Central Unified Union School District.
The Windsor Central Supervisory Union’s Act 46 Study Committee created the SU’s Act 46 plan, due to Vermont’s Act 46, an education reform law, which was passed by the Legislature in 2015. Consolidated school district governance is a major focus of the law.
Four of the towns voted in favor of the proposal, but Barnard and Reading turned it down. In Barnard the defeat was 155 to 103 – in Reading it went down 135 to 64. Each had 29 percent participation in the vote relative to population.
Under that plan, one of the major changes would be 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.
This part of the plan drew a number of opponents in Reading and Barnard, some of whom feared the Act 46 merger would put them on the path toward eventually losing their local elementary schools.
Proponents of the Act 46 plan say its unified governance model – which links the high school, middle school and elementary systems – would lead to greater equity in educational opportunities, more operational efficiencies district-wide, and greater educational success for the overall region.
The new district that was voted on during town meeting day, can proceed with four of the six WCSU towns, with adjustments still possible for the district’s new board, depending on what happens in the coming weeks. But what’s next for Barnard and Reading? Bryce Sammel, a Barnard School Board member, reviewed their choices. A resident of either town can file a petition within 30 days after Town Meeting calling for a second vote to accept the original plan. The vote would be held within 60 days. A town that waits until after July 1 to join, risks losing the full benefit of certain tax incentives Act 46 offers, and its small school grant would have to be reapplied for.
Joining after Oct. 1, would mean the new unified district would have to vote to accept either town wishing to join, according to Sammel.
Sammel doesn’t like the design of the new unified district’s school board, as proposed, which he believes gives Woodstock too much power. The new unified school board, as originally laid out in the Act 46 plan, has 18 members, with Woodstock having six members and other towns having two members.
With four out of six WCSU towns having supported the proposal on town meeting day (instead of all six approving), the make-up of that board could eventually be adjusted. Also, the 18-member option takes into account Plymouth, which on April 18 is re-voting the proposal to join the new district, due to an
error that town discovered while voting was in progress.
The aforementioned 30-day period is key.
“Any of the four towns that voted ‘yes’ could petition for a re-vote and attempt to change their vote to a ‘no,’” Sammel wrote in an email. “This could be seen as desirable by those who do not like the makeup of the merged board.”
Going forward, Reading and Barnard have other choices. They each could attempt to form or join alternative Unified School Districts. Stockbridge and Sharon, for example, both turned down a 10-town proposal. Sammel said Barnard could also consider Hartland.
Sammel said, “Barnard is in a strong position.”
Close to Reading is West Windsor, and Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union, which includes West Windsor, Hartland and Windsor, is currently considering its future under Act 46.
According to Act 46, towns that do not consolidate will eventually be placed into existing USDs by the Agency of Education.
Referring to Act 46, John Philpin, a Reading School Board member, feels the Legislature failed to consider 50 years of research proving consolidation doesn’t work in rural areas.
“The studies also showed that students get a better education in smaller schools than in larger ones,” he said.
The law was then creatively interpreted by the Agency of Education, Philpin said, and local school boards re-interpreted it again.
Keeping Reading’s elementary school is of great concern.
“Who wants to live in a town that has no school?,” Philpin said.
He feels that Woodstock provided most of the input in designing the new unified district, and that they are unwisely imposing a “business model” on education.
Reading’s bottom line?
According to Philpin, “Going it alone is not a good idea. We have a half dozen other options and we’re looking at all of them.”
This article first appeared in the March 23, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.