Montpelier: Merger with U-32 district faces new wrinkle, halting effort
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By Thatcher Moats
Staff Writer - Published: September 3, 2010
MONTPELIER — The Montpelier School Board has decided to hit the pause button when it comes to a potential merger with a neighboring school district.
The Montpelier School District and the Washington Central Supervisory Union – which includes U-32 Middle and High School — have been seriously exploring for more than a year whether to merge the districts, a dramatic change that proponents say could save taxpayers money and expand education opportunities for students.
But figuring out the details of the costs, benefits and effects of the merger has been tough. Now that process is being put on hold because Washington Central Supervisory Union, which comprises the five towns of Berlin, Worcester, East Montpelier, Calais and Middlesex, is unsure what path it will take.
Until that is clear, the effort to envision a merger could turn out be a waste of time for the Montpelier School District.
“Before we put more resources into it we need to know from Washington Central what their plans are,” said John Hollar, the chairman of the Montpelier School Board.
Along with the option of maintaining the status quo, Washington Central is now considering two paths: one is a merger with Montpelier, the other is a new idea of consolidation within the supervisory union itself.
Under a new law passed by the Vermont Legislature in the most recent session, taxpayers in districts like Montpelier and Washington Central stand to reap significant financial rewards if the districts merge.
The law, Act 153, also makes clear that supervisory unions that have more than 1,250 students, four districts within the union, or both, can reap those same benefits by simply consolidating within themselves.
Washington Central fits these parameters, and is looking at the idea of consolidating on its own, a move that would be much simpler than merging with a neighboring district like Montpelier.
Because Washington Central is unsure how it will proceed, it's difficult to envision how a merger with Montpelier would unfold.
“Until they know that, it's not productive for us to study it because there are different variables depending on what course they take,” said Hollar.
Washington Central Supervisory Union is made up of six districts, said Charlotte Hanna Bassage, the chairwoman of the Washington Central Executive Committee. The five towns in the supervisory union are considered their own districts and have their own elementary schools. U-32 Middle and High School is the sixth district, Bassage explained.
The Washington Central Executive Committee governs the supervisory union and central office, for a grand total of seven boards.
If Washington Central were to consolidate on its own, the result would be the elimination of the individual district school boards, said Bassage, which would be less cumbersome for administration.
“The biggest change from what we're currently doing would be to have a single board, to move from seven boards to a single board,” said Bassage.
Despite the language in Act 153 about gaining efficiencies and saving money, a consolidation of the districts within Washington Central would not save a ton of money, Bassage acknowledged.
The board members are volunteers, for instance.
“There aren't huge savings,” she said. “In fact, they're modest.”
A merger with Montpelier, which would likely involve closing one or more school buildings, has the potential to lead to greater savings.
The loss of the individual local boards which oversee the town's elementary schools could be a downside of consolidation, said Bassage. But she believes it could be mitigated by having town representatives on a broader supervisory union board still playing an active and influential role in the local schools.
“I believe even if we consolidated, we'd still have board members from each town who would help build school budgets, address taxpayers at town meeting, and who would be an appeal board for appeals as they currently do now,” said Bassage.
(She said local boards sometimes act as an appeals board if a principal's decision on an issue is questioned).
“That closeness to the community is a real important link,” she said.
It's not completely clear that having Washington Central consolidate within itself is the best option, admitted Bassage.
“There's the concern that if we consolidate within (Washington Central) that we run out of energy and steam and find two major changes to be too much,” she said. Bassage said consolidation issues and Act 153 will be discussed thoroughly on Sept. 15 when all the boards within Washington Central are scheduled to meet.
Armando Vilaseca, the Commissioner of the Department of Education, did not respond to a request for comment passed through a department spokeswoman.
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