Windsor
Weathersfield and West Windsor have approved the proposal, with Windsor and Hartland school boards voting next week.The proposal, which needs state approval, would merge the West Windsor and Windsor school districts while leaving Hartland and Weathersfield as standalone K-8 districts. All four districts would remain as part of the current supervisory union with each town having three members on the supervisory union board.
Once all four school boards approve the plan, Baker said it would go to the state Agency of Education to be reviewed by its legal department and the Secretary of the Agency, Rebecca Holcombe, who will make her recommendation to the State Board of Education. Baker estimates the state board would consider the proposal at its meeting January. The last step to merge the two school districts would be votes in West Windsor and Windsor on Town Meeting day in March. If approved, the new Windsor/West Windsor Unified Union School District would become operational on July 1, 2019.
“I don’t see any roadblocks for the state unless it has a problem with Hartland and Weathersfield staying independent,” Baker said Tuesday.
It is possible, Baker said, that the state could split the plan and only approve the merger.
It has taken about two years for the Act 46 committee to develop this proposal and approve the final version on Nov. 28. It looked at other options but could not agree on one of the state’s preferred structures, including a unified district with all towns sending students to Windsor High school. Also defeated by the committee was a merger of both Windsor and West Windsor with a separate merger of Hartland and Weathersfield. In June, the committee, comprised of school board members from each town and other representatives, adopted the proposed alternative structure and West Windsor and Windsor began drawing up article of agreement of the new district.
At the beginning of the 130-page Alternative Structure proposal is a summary of the plan. It states in part that there is “clear evidence” to support a merger of the Windsor and West Windsor school districts while keeping Hartland and Weathersfield as autonomous within the Supervisory Union “as the ‘best means’ for achieving the goals of Act 46 in our region.”
Passed by the Legislature in 2015 to address the problems of rising educational costs and shrinking enrollment, Act 46 seeks to create school districts of at least 900 students which would theoretically cuts administrative costs and expand educational opportunities at a lower per pupil cost.
One chart in the Alternative Structure plan shows enrollment declined between 11 percent in Windsor to more than 22 percent in Weathersfield from 2003-04 to 2016-17.
Hartland and Weathersfield were steadfastly opposed to a unified district, primarily because it would have meant an end to high school choice.
West Windsor will eventually lose choice under the agreement, sending all of its students after grade six to Windsor. However,one of the provisions in the articles of agreement between the two towns is that West Windsor tuition students in the 2018-19 school year and sixth graders in that same year are “grandfathered,” meaning they can continue to attend the school of their choice until graduation.
In its support of a West Windsor/Windsor merger, the committee identified several “operational, educational and financial opportunities” that would benefit both towns. Among these are: $940,000 in tuition over six years that is now going from West Windsor to other districts; West Windsor seventh and eighth grade students benefiting from Windsor design/tech education and theater programs; and a reduction in the tax burden for West Windsor and a commitment to maintain the Albert Bridge school given the geographic proximity of the towns.
Act 46 committee member John Tansey of Windsor, who favored a unified district, said he thinks the proposed merger will be good for both towns and emphasized that West Windsor, with a smaller population, will still be a “full partner” in board decisions because each town will have three school board members.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
