The following article, written by Michelle Monroe, Messenger Staff Writer appeared in the Friday, July 22, 2011 edition of The St. Albans Messenger:
School districts' merger?
Fairfax, Fletcher have plan
By MlCHELLE MONROE
Messenger Staff Writer
FAIRFAX - A proposed merger of the Fairfax and Fletcher school districts is ready to go before the state board of education and will likely go to voters in the two communities this fall.
A committee studying the merger accepted the study report by consensus Wednesday night, clearing the way for presentation to the board of education.
Under the proposed merger the two communities would have one school district the Fairfax-Fletcher Regional Education School District (FFRED). There are no plans to close any of the existing schools and under the merger proposal no school could be closed for seven years without a vote of approval from the community in which the school is located.
"The consensus was it was worth both towns voting," Ned Kirsch, superintendent for Franklin West Supervisory Union (FWSU) told the Messenger. "People can decide whether it's right for both towns or not."
The merger committee hopes to hold a vote in both communities on Nov. 8. "Looking at the whole program, I really think it would be advantageous to both towns, and that's what the committee felt as well," said Kirsch.
With Act 153, the Vermont Legislature created financial incentives for communities to merge their school districts. The first year after a merger, residents in the merged district see a reduction in their education property tax rate of eight cents. The following year the reduction is six cents, then four, then two, before disappearing entirely.
Fairfax has a pre- K to grade 12 school, with 925 students on a single campus, Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax.
Fletcher has an elementary school with 107 students, and the majority of Fletcher's students attend middle and high school in
Fairfax. With the merger all of Fletcher's students would transfer to BFA after fifth grade. There is a provision for students attending
other high schools at the time of the merger. They would be allowed to continue at their current schools through high school graduation. Following them, the sole district high school would be BFA, Fairfax. The merger committee is recommending that
Fletcher consider sending its sixth graders to BFA even if the merger fails.
Space at Fletcher Elementary School is at a premium, with the school having to resort to a mobile classroom. By sending the sixth grade students to BFA, Fletcher could free up needed classroom space, according to the merger committee.
A new board of seven members -- with proportional representation based on population -- would govern the merged district. Every 10 years, after the U.S. Census results were published, board membership would be adjusted, if necessary; to reflect population changes.
If the two communities approve the merger, the new board would be elected at Town Meeting Day 2012 to oversee the merger. The current boards would continue to operate until July 1, 2014 when the merger would take effect.
Five of the members of the new board would be from Fairfax and two from Fletcher. In a list of pros and cons of merger, the committee noted the new arrangement would give Fletcher residents a voice in middle and high school operations that they do not currently have. As a sending town, Fletcher residents can choose where to send their middle and high school students, but have no say over the operation of those schools.
Fletcher would no longer pay tuition, over which it has no control, for its middle and high school students. BFA, in turn, would lose those tuition dollars.
Fairfax would have to share control of BFA with Fletcher and Fletcher would be sharing control of its elementary school. Both communities would vote on a single budget for the merged district.
The merger may also allow for increased opportunities for pre-school students. Currently, all four-year-olds wishing to attend pre-K are able to do so in both schools, but Fairfax has not been able to accommodate all three-year-olds in a pre-K program. With the merger, the two schools would be better able to accommodate three-year-olds, according to the committee.
The other benefits of merger include sharing resources, especially for special subject areas such as the arts and music.
A projected budget comparing the initial year of a merged district with the current costs for both schools shows a savings of about $100,000.
Teacher salaries increase slightly with the merged district initially as the projection shows BFA hiring an additional sixth grade teacher to accommodate students from Fletcher. The addition would give the sixth grade classrooms a student to teacher ratio of 23:1.
Much of the projected savings comes from administrative areas such as insurance, dues, auditing services, etc.
In addition to both schools remaining open, both schools would retain their current names, and all existing contracts would be honored. The FFRED would be expected to remain within the Franklin West Supervisory Union.
Both schools have some upcoming building repairs. However, both also have adequate funds to complete the repairs in reserve funds and the committee is recommending the repairs be carried out before a possible merger.
BFA has an outstanding bond that will be paid off in 2019. Current payments are $150,000 per year. Tuition for BFA includes a fraction of the payment on the bond. Thus, Fletcher has already been assisting with the bond payment.
The committee is recommending that the FFRED assume the remaining debt from the bond. The Fletcher School District will not have any debt at the time of the merger.
