Op-Ed on Choice vs. Designation

05 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

Tags

act 46, Pawlet Rupert Wells merger, rutland herald editorial schaub

Perhaps you’ve heard: the biggest news last Thursday night after the much-anticipated Pawlet-Rupert-Wells merger forum was that no decision was made on the pivotal question of school choice versus designation. It was a well-attended, long, and emotional meeting. The Rutland Herald’s article on the meeting was entitled “Passion, But No School Choice Decision in Pawlet.”

The committee decided to hold off and vote at the next meeting: Wed., Sept. 7th at the Wells School at 7PM. I highly encourage everyone who cares about this issue to attend this meeting.

After the meeting was over, I wrote this Op-Ed piece for the Rutland Herald which appeared on Saturday- click on the link below to check it out.

http://rutlandherald.com/article/20160903/OPINION04/160909882

The Good Part: Merger Consideration Heats Up

27 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

act 46, Pawlet Rupert Wells merger, school choice in Vermont

“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.

And Then What Happened? School Merger Consideration Continues

03 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

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act 46, Pawlet Rupert Wells merger, School merger committee, Vermont school choice

As consideration of the Pawlet/Rupert/Wells school merger continues, the committee, under the direction of advisor Dan French, has met again (7/29/16, Mettawee Community School).

Not all that much happened.

But! One key thing did (drumroll please…?)

A decision was made as to the proposed new school board. The committee agreed unanimously that the new school board will have nine-members, proportionally representing the three towns. Therefore, the new school board will look like this:

Pawlet: 4 members
Rupert: 2 members
Wells: 3 members

That’s it! I just saved you an hour and a half meeting, so, you’re welcome.

The next meeting will take place August 8th at 6:30 pm at the Wells School. At that meeting they expect to start to look at some financial projections, for both designated and non-designated high school scenarios. They will also discuss a draft of a newsletter to be sent out from the committee.

Side note: If you do decide to come to a meeting, please be aware that currently the committee is only taking a total of ten minutes of public comments at the beginning of each meeting. They will also accept written comments. Currently they are not responding to comments or answering questions; members of the community may sit in on the meetings but may not yet participate in the discussions. The time for questions and commentary will be when the committee has its public hearing for a more fully-fleshed out merger proposal. They are currently projecting the public hearing will be in late August or early November. So, stay-tuned.

Merger Committee Members who were at the meeting on 7/29/16:

Sue Ceglowski, Susan Hostley, John Malcolm, Courtney Bishop, Diane Mach, Rico Balzano, Arlene Bentley and William Meyer.

So, What’s Up with the School Merger?

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by Eve Ogden Schaub in Pawlet Happenings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

act 46, school choice VT, school merger pawlet

School Merger Committee meeting, 7/13/16

If you’ve heard of Act 46, then you know the state of Vermont is requiring school districts to merge into larger units. Everyone agrees it’s complicated, but you can read an excellent plain-English summary of the law here: http://vtdigger.org/2015/11/10/decoding-act-46-what-it-means-how-it-works/

To this end, the town of Pawlet, along with neighboring Rupert and Wells are conducting a merger study right now. Are you wondering what’s happening with the Pawlet/Rupert/Wells Merger Study? I was. Some friends mentioned there was a meeting the other night, (7/13/16) so I went. The meeting lasted about two hours, but lucky for you! I have condensed it all for you here. This, in a nutshell, is what I found out:

-The committee has hired former BRSU Superintendent Dan French as an advisor.

–Currently the committee is in the “study” phase. Their job is to determine if a merger is desirable. If not, they will disband and the process begins again with a different committee, merger proposal and study.

-If this merger is found desirable by the committee, they will compile a report arguing to that effect and present it to the public.

– There will be a public hearing, in late August or early September at which both written and verbal testimony will be taken from the public.

– The goal is to have the merger proposal complete in November.

-If accepted by the state board in December, the plan then goes to the voters. Ideally, this vote would take place by March, 2017. In order to be accepted, all three towns have to vote in favor of it.

-In order to achieve certain tax incentives, the deadline for a merger to be accepted is one year from now: July 2017.

-According to advisor French, the three key merger issues are:

The size/ composition of the new school board
The assets versus the liabilities of such a new set-up
Designation versus choice- ie: will the high school be designated or not?

-Members of the committee include: Sue Ceglowski, Arlene Bentley, Sue Hostley, John Malcolm, Diane Mach, William Meyer, Sue Burke, Rico Balzano, Courtney Bishop

As you can see, the timeline is key, and has many pieces. So, just to recap, here is what the committee is shooting for:

July/August: Merger Committee Study Phase
August/September: Public Hearing
November: Merger Study complete and submitted to state
March 2017, or before: Merger Proposal Vote

Don’t believe me? Think I have gotten all the facts horribly wrong? Come to one of the next meetings, and decide for yourself! Here is the current schedule:

Thursday July 28 6:30-8:30pm Mettawee School
Monday August 8 7pm TBA
Monday August 22 3:30-8:30pm Wells Village School
Thursday September 1 6:30-8:30pm Mettawee School

School merger summary number 1