This is an excellent article, even though very long, written by Michelle Monroe, St. Albans Messenger Staff Writer that appeared in the Thursday, September 29, 2011 Edition of the paper. The last discussion got off the track a bit, so I would like to make sure that discussion on this topic stay on track and allows voters an opportunity to understand so they can vote on November 8, 2011 on this Merger
Fairfax, Fletcher talk ed. Merger
Officials explain key advantages
By MlCHELLE MONROE
Messenger Staff Writer
FAIRFAX – The committee studying the merger of the Fletcher and Fairfax school districts made the first of three public presentations Wednesday night here at Bellows Free Academy.
The two communities will vote on the merger on Tuesday; Nov. 8. Both communities must approve the initiative for merger to occur. If that were to happen, it would be the first school district merger in the state.
Betsy Lesnikoski, chair of the Fletcher School board and the study committee, presented the committee's findings.
"It's the educational opportunities for kids that are really key;" said Lesnikoski, who also listed the economic efficiencies to be gained.
Currently, Fletcher is a Pre-K through grade six school, with students moving to Bellows Free Academy (BFA) in Fairfax for seventh grade. With the merger, Fletcher's sixth grade students would
move to BFA, opening up needed space at Fletcher Elementary.
More importantly, the students would benefit from all beginning middle school together, said Lesnikoski.
"I'm passionate about the sixth graders coming (to BFA)," said Nancy Mead, a committee member from Fairfax who has also worked at BFA. "It's kind of like coming late to the party."
One member of the audience said she didn't see the benefits of sending the sixth graders to BFA, as the school makes an effort to integrate them with the BFA students when they arrive in seventh grade. Another parent, however, expressed the opposite view, saying she felt her children would benefit from attending BFA in sixth grade.
Asked if it would be possible to send Fletcher's sixth graders to BFA without a merger, Lesnikoski
said it would not. Fletcher, she said, could not afford the additional tuition, which is now about $11,000 per student.
Combining the school districts would end school choice for Fletcher's high school students. All
Fletcher students would attend BFA Fairfax. However, Fletcher students currently attending other
high schools would be allowed to continue at those schools until graduation.
Ninety to 95 percent of Fletcher's high school students attend BFA currently, Lesnikoski said.
However, the merger of the two communities creates the possibility of school choice at the elementary level. In the long term, the two elementary schools might be able to specialize in particular areas, such
as art or science, suggested Lesnikoski.
In the short term, the new, combined school board would be able to approve students from one town attending the other town's elementary school on a case-by-case basis, explained committee member Corrie Sweet, of Fairfax.
The schools also would be able to share instructors and potentially after school programs. Franklin West Superintendent Ned Kirsch offered the example of Fletcher needing a half-time music teacher and BFA having 2.5 music teachers. With the merger, BFA and Fletcher could share three music teachers. With the schools in separate districts such coordination is not possible, he said.
The committee also believed the merger would open up opportunities for pre-K students.
Governance and taxes
The combined district would be governed by a single board with seven members -- five from Fairfax
and two from Fletcher. Representation on the board would be based on population and would be
re-evaluated every 10 years when the most recent U.S. Census data became available.
The advantage for Fletcher is that it would gain a say over middle and high school education that it now lacks, said Lesnikoski. If the merger is approved, the new board would be elected on Town Meeting Day in March next year and begin overseeing the merger on July 1, 2012. The merged district would take effect on July 1, 2013.
There would be one school budget, which would go before both communities' voters. A simple
majority of the mingled votes would be needed to approve the budget.
For the purposes of determining state aid to schools, the population of the entire school district would be counted, explained Kirsch. In addition, all Fletcher students would attend BFA, capturing slightly more aid for the combined district.
Currently; the student census at both schools fluctuates in class size. For example, Fletcher now has 19 fifth and sixth grade students, said Sweet, but in a few years it will have nearly 20 students in each of those classes. When a large class graduates from Fletcher and moves on to
BFA, Fletcher sees a drop in its student population and a decrease in student aid, while BFA sees an increase in both. If the total population is counted as one, that fluctuation disappears, because the total students in both schools would be relatively constant.
Next year, according to Kirsch, BFA will have 11 fewer Fletcher students than it has this year. This is a loss to BFA of about $110,000 in tuition revenue.
However, Sumner said, BFA’s budget remains relatively stable even when student population fluctuates. The loss of 11 students won't change fixed costs, such as utilities, nor will it necessarily allow the school to eliminate a teaching position.
Fletcher residents will likely see a decrease in their tax rates with the decrease in tuition, but may see
an increase of equal size when a larger class moves onto BFA in a few years. With the end of tuition, tax rates for Fletcher residents would become more predictable and stable.
The other advantage of having the student populations of Fletcher and Fairfax counted as one is
that it will stabilize education cost per pupil. That cost is one of the determinants for the amount of taxes communities pay into the state education fund. Currently, that number can change dramatically with fluctuations in student population at Fletcher Elementary and BFA Fairfax.
In a combined district, the per-pupil cost would be based on the entirety of the student population in both communities, a number that would remain relatively stable compared to current fluctuations created by differences in class sizes, explained Sumner.
The impact to taxpayers in both communities would be more stable tax rates, said Sumner.
Asked if a combined district would be better able to adjust staff and building resources in response
to changing class sizes, Lesnikoski said it would.
The committee presented the projected tax rates for the two communities with and without merger. Both communities would pay less with a merger, primarily because the state is offering lower initial tax rates as an incentive to merger.
However, the committee did find that a merged district would have a budget for the first year of $100,000 less than the two districts separately.
Surprisingly, the issue of taxes and budget costs was given little attention at last night's meeting, with most of the questions focusing on educational quality and physical space concerns.
Attendees asked if the growth in the Town of Fairfax's population had been taken into consideration.
Kirsch responded that although the population of Fairfax has increased, the number of students has
not. "People were anticipating there's going be a lot of kids here, and there's not," said Kirsch.
Chris Santee, a member of the Fairfax Selectboard and the study committee, said the number of building permits for new home construction issued by the town is down.
Sweet suggested more than once that a merged district would have one board seeking to do what
was best for all of the students in the new district. "It's really a mindset to get over, us and them, thinking about it as two communities," said Sweet.
When one audience member said he felt as though he was being sold a used car, Sweet responded, "I'm not trying to sell you on anything. Here are the facts. This is what we found."
The final report of the committee, along with the minutes from all of their meetings and contact information for the members may be found at the Franklin West Supervisory Union Web site:
In addition, there will be two more public meetings prior to the vote. On Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 6:30 p.m. a meeting will be held at the Fairfax Elementary School gym. The following evening, also at 6:30, another meeting will be held at The Fletcher Elementary School Gym.
