WESTMINSTER WEST — At the Westminster Community Schools Board meeting on Jan. 6, the budget subcommittee presented two versions of a budget for fiscal year 2016. One continues funding the Westminster West School and one does not.
The school board elected to present, at the Westminster Town Meeting in March, the version that keeps the West School open. Residents will voice their opinion by a floor vote.
Closing the Westminster West School due to low enrollment was discussed in 2011 and again in October 2014, when the board's budget subcommittee drafted a FY16 budget proposal that defunded the West School.
In December 2014, a community forum was held to debate the issue. Two new budget proposals were drawn up.
“One was a budget without the West School, but it included a half-time science specialist,” Windham Northeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Chris Kibbe said, adding, “The budget with the West School does not have the science position in it.”
Kibbe told The CommonsNOTE (Unknown Author, 2015-01-10T21:34:46): Added. Did he say this to us or did he say it at the meeting? he expects the debate will be reignited at the Town Meeting and continue as an issue as long as enrollment continues falling.
“Although there may be a bump or two in enrollment coming, the overall trend in our district is that enrollment is dropping,” he explained.
“These are all really important community issues. They go beyond the funding question. These issues have to do with communities and what comprises the center of a community. Is it required that a school be the center? They're complicated decisions,” he said.