http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/08/some-districts-left-in-limbo-as-revisions-to-merger-rules-languish/
To date, of the 94 school choice districts, 4 have given up choice as the result of mergers. One of these districts was Elmore where an initial vote against a merger was flipped on a revote. According to an Elmore parent who testified in the House Education Committee, residents were misinformed, subjected to scare tactics about high property taxes, and not able to develop and present other options causing the merger issue to create bitterness and divisiveness within the community. In particular, Act 46 created divisiveness between people living on fixed incomes and families with school age children. Ironically, Elmore has an increasing school age population. To the Elmore parent, school choice is a progressive movement and while other states look towards expanding choice, Vermont is going backwards.
The headmaster of Vermont’s Compass School spoke out against the myth that private schools are “elitist, prep schools”. In his view, school choice allows independent schools to complement public schools by serving kids “who don’t fit”, particularly kids who get labeled as “problem kids” as opposed to “different kids.” The Compass school serves a high number of students with disabilities and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. The tuition is considerably less than that of public schools.
House Minority Leader Don Turner noted that, although school choice is a hundred and fifty year old Vermont tradition, promises given to preserve school choice under Act 46 were not kept. He called for a legislative fix this session to restore choice. Although Representative Turner pushed Chairman Sharpe to give a yes or no answer on restoring choice. Representative Sharpe’s response was, “It’s a process. We don’t get to decide.”
Meanwhile the School Board’s Association took the position that choice is unduly expensive and drains resources from local public schools.
Memo - Vermont's Education Voucher System
This position ignores the fact that many public schools receive large amounts of tuition payments from choice towns. The loss of this income will increase their per pupil costs which can increase property taxes. In fact, the total amount of tuition payments to public schools is much greater than the total received by independent schools.
www.campaignforvermont.org/tuitioning_data_comparisons
www.campaignforvermont.org/potential_tuition_loss_districts
The position of the School Boards Association also begs the question of what, if any organization, represents the school boards that do not support Act 46. It looks like there is a rebellion in search of leadership.
In Strafford, residents recently passed a resolution to repeal Act 46 because it did not like its limited options, one of which was giving up sending students to Thetford Academy, an independent high school. According to the School Board Chair, the requirements of Act 46 are not serving students well and time pressures around merger decisions amount to making decisions “with a gun to your head.”
http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/12/in-strafford-merger-options-mean-choosing-what-to-lose/
North Bennington Graded School District wants to preserve choice in its lower grades by withdrawing from its Mt. Anthony Unified Union School District and the Southwest Supervisory Union merger study group and offering choice for all grades.
http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/11/north-bennington-board-seeks-to-leave-mau/
In the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union there was enough concern about losing choice to back away from an accelerated merger.
http://vtdigger.org/2016/02/28/windham-southeast-schools-back-away-from-quick-merger/
Meanwhile, a bipartisan coalition of legislators has vowed to fight for choice.
If you value Vermont’s one hundred and fifty year old tradition of school choice this coalition could use your support. It is not too late to preserve this heritage.
Let your legislators know where you stand. Here are links to members of the House and Senate Education Committees respectively:
http://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2016/10
http://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2016/24
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