“Designation or choice is your pivotal issue right now”

-Dan French

Advisor to the Merger Committee

I know what you’ve been thinking. You’ve been thinking: sure, things are happening with the Pawlet/Rupert/Wells School Merger Committee… but I really can’t get involved until something big is about to happen.

Well, friends, something big is about to happen. After a very, very long meeting last Monday (8/22/16) the Merger Committee decided to speed things up. The upshot is that there will be only one public forum on the merger. This is a change from previous plans, so to be clear, this is your one chance to have your voice heard on the proposed Pawlet/Rupert/Wells School merger— and specifically on the pivotal issue of School Choice versus Designation— and that will be at the meeting next Thursday, September 1st at 6:30PM at the Mettawee Community School. So tell your friends, share this post, do whatever it takes to get the word out.

Merger Committee Meeting, Rupert Firehouse, 8/22/16

Committee Advisor Dan French is planning a ten-minute power-point presentation to bring the public up to speed on the whole process that the committee has been engaged in this past summer and where we might go from here. French has consistently maintained that School Choice versus Designation is the key issue for this merger. (See below for a description of this issue.) He will have specific numbers to illustrate estimated cost differences between School Choice and Designation.

(Spoiler alert: under the current scenario the difference is about ten cents. For example: if the property tax rate were $1.36 under Designation, then we can estimate it will be about $1.46 under School Choice. Dan French notes that taxes go up under either scenario. And yes, the property tax rate would be the same for all three towns.)

After the Question and Comment period is over (which they estimate will be at 8:30PM) DON’T LEAVE! Why? Because the committee plans to vote right then and there which way they intend to go on the School Choice versus Designation issue. Yes! It’s a public meeting so stay and watch the fun!

Some key points to be aware of:

• Logistics: this evening the Mettawee Back-to-School Picnic will also be going on, so arrive early for a good parking spot.
• Important for parents: Child-care will be provided in the library from 6:30 to 8:30.
• Which way is the committee leaning? It’s hard to say, however at the last meeting the representatives from Wells clearly indicated that they are in favor of School Choice. If the merger committee fails to vote for School Choice on Sept. 1, the Wells representatives have expressed interest in dissolving the committee so that they may pursue the possibility of merging with Middletown Springs.(Middletown Springs is holding a forum to explore merger possibilities on Sept. 8th.)
• Can we include Middletown Springs in our merger? If the committee chooses School Choice, it is possible that Middletown Springs could be invited into the merger as well, by a simple vote of the committee.
• Can’t things just stay the same?: Although Rupert, Pawlet and also many Wells children have historically gone to Salem and Granville for public high school, under the current law, Act 46, there is no option to designate schools outside of Vermont. During the last merger meeting, RSWSU Superintendent Joan Paustian explained “right now that (ability) does not exist.”

School Choice versus Designation: What Does it Mean?

Because neither Pawlet, Rupert nor Wells has a high school of its own, the merger committee must make a decision whether or not to “designate” a high school or high schools. If so, between one and three high schools may be “designated.” in this scenario, if a high school student chooses instead to go to a non-designated school, he or she gets a voucher for the lowest tuition amount of the available designated options.

If, on the other hand, no school is “designated” each student receives a voucher for the state average announced tuition for Vermont high schools. For example, the average announced tuition of Union 7th-12th grade schools in Vermont in 2016 was $14,297.