Is it time to have a different kind of Act 46 Meeting?
Act 46 was intended to encourage school districts to merge in order to help reduce taxes and provide additional educational opportunities in the face of declining enrollments. Many of you have attended numerous meetings and many ideas have been considered to find an acceptable solution to comply with this new mandate.
The early decision by the WSESU Act 46 Study Committee to pursue the accelerated merger offered apparent tax benefits and transition grants that would help fund any reorganization.
Resistance from the community to the idea of a merger proposal led to the one pro-school-choice member school withdrawing from the Study Committee. This withdrawal led to the committee missing its deadline for presenting their proposal to the towns for a vote.
Discussions about Act 46 finally found their match at this year's town meetings. After attending the one in my hometown of Dummerston, I watched both Putney's and Guilford's on BCTV and saw how the law has created some confusing exchanges over the responsibilities of the Act 46 Study Committee...