BRATTLEBORO — The Act 46 Study Committee keeps repeating the same unsupported claims about the proposed school mega-merger. Their financials on this merger are unclear and incomplete. The “leadership councils” they tout will have no legal decision-making authority and no real responsibility. Their claim that such councils will function has never been supported with any evidence.
Our supervisory union has served us well for many years. Now it has been pulled apart by this merger proposal. Vernon has left, and many citizens in the other small towns are uncertain as to their respective town school's future under an area-wide merger dominated by Brattleboro.
The last Act 46–related ballot in Brattleboro inspired 3 percent of eligible voters to vote. Perhaps Brattleboro residents believe that our dominance in money and enrollment will mean we will be unaffected. Not true.
The merger will result in rising school taxes for Brattleboro. Remember, Brattleboro is a hub town that already bears regional costs. This will be as true for education as it is for roads under this merger.
If you are curious as to what the merger will bring, just look at the process that the study committee used. It was focused on compliance, not on community engagement.
This is the essence of what the mega-merger will bring to our schools: legalistic compliance and centralization of authority. Quality education, however, thrives on community engagement, innovation, and cooperative relationships.
Early on, a member of the study committee characterized those who questioned the direction of the [study] committee as “hysterical.” When the study committee recently presented its merger proposal to the State Board of Education, it claimed that those who raised questions about the merger were focused on “adult issues” while characterizing itself as concerned about “child issues.”
This kind of dismissive talk has characterized the process and sown division among supporters of public education.
Voting down the merger will open a new door to community engagement, transparency, and student equity - the original goals of Act 46 - just as it will slow the rush to mere administrative compliance and concentration of authority.
Support our town meetings, our local school boards and community engagement by voting no on Nov. 7. The next step will then be an alternative supported by Act 46 itself - an enhanced supervisory union with member districts working together to reach the original goals of this legislation.