After months of conversations that left the Windsor Southeast Act 46 study committee at the brink of collapse, the panel voted unanimously on Tuesday to replace its consultant.
Sarah Stewart Taylor, who represents Hartland on the voluntary committee, said she was among those impressed with the new hire, Peter Clarke.
“I certainly feel more hopeful that, however this turns out, it will at least be the end result of an informed debate,” she said.
Clarke will replace Diana Watson and facilitate the study committee’s attempts to comply with Act 46, the 2015 education law that requires communities to have conversations about voluntarily merging their school districts into larger entities.
The study group has been stymied as it tried to find a way to merge three school choice towns with one town that operates all grades. The effort has been challenging because the State Board of Education said it would not consider proposals that combine operating districts with those that pay tuition for their students to attend schools elsewhere.
“Your particular situation doesn’t meet any of the preferred structures under the law,” Clarke told committee members. “You have been having a yearlong discussion about how to take square pegs and put them into round holes, and that involves shaving one way or the other, and nobody likes shaving.”
Clarke said he came up with a one-line report to the state board for the study group: “You tell us what you think we should do under the law because the law doesn’t fit here, end of story. We await your reply.” The 30 or so members of the public attending the meeting erupted into applause.
Clarke, who has worked with Act 46 study committees in Barre, Caledonia Central, Washington Northeast, Franklin Northwest, Orange North, Windsor Central and Windsor Northwest, encouraged the Windsor Southeast committee to look at its particular challenge as an opportunity and really explore options “before you walk away.” The study group had come to the point where it was considering disbanding at the meeting, but switched gears after hearing Clarke out.
Act 46 is designed to encourage the state’s 277 school districts to voluntarily unite into larger units in an effort to address dramatic declines in the number of students attending Vermont’s schools. Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union is made up of Windsor, a town that operates schools with kindergarten through 12th grade; Hartland and Weathersfield, which each operate kindergarten through eighth-grade schools and offer high school choice; and West Windsor, which has a kindergarten through sixth-grade school and offers choice to students in grades seven through 12. West Windsor’s Albert Bridge Elementary School has 84 students and relies on a small-schools grant that it could lose if it doesn’t pursue a merger allowed under state law.
The study group had come to the point where it believed its options were limited, according to a letter written by Windsor Southeast Superintendent David Baker. He stated that either the towns would have to give up choice to establish a regional high school to fit into an allowed merger model, or create a side-by-side arrangement that would have the choice districts merge and Windsor join with another K-12 operating school district such as Hartford or Springfield. But neither Hartford nor Springfield is required to merge under Act 46, and study group members were not sure either town would be willing to partner.
At the meeting Clarke told committee members they have more opportunities than they thought. He said lawmakers included an alternative merger structure in the law because they realized that not every area could fit into the more typical models. Clarke illustrated a way to make choice work in a new district that might be attractive to the voters and the state board.
Clarke said the towns could come together and build a regional high school and maybe a regional school district with Hartford and Springfield that would allow school choice towns to pick from schools within the new region.
Amy McMullen, who represents Windsor, said she liked the idea of coming together in a regional way, but that having just one school board and one school budget would be a difficult sell to their communities.
“How are we going to convince our communities to come up with one board and one budget? Our community has control of our high school. If we were to come together with other communities then there would be one board and more representatives from the other towns,” McMullen said, adding that would dilute what they currently have.
“That is the fundamental conundrum of this law,” Clarke said, but the question ultimately is one of trust. Clarke said regional and local pride has a dark side, not trusting that neighbors will care for children as much as their community will.
Clarke said Act 46 recognizes that Vermonters already are working together because of the way the state finances schools.
“Every single inefficiency in the state in terms of meeting the needs of children takes away from someone else. Everybody pays in Vermont for everybody else’s inefficiencies,” Clarke said.
Taylor, of Hartland, said she wants to sort through real data, budget and tax projections, information that will help committee members get a grip on what is happening now and what might under different scenarios.
“We are aware that our situation remains difficult, but at least we will start to get some real data,” she said.