Whiting voters will assemble at the Town Hall at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, to hear a presentation of the Otter Valley Unified Union School District budget for the 2016-17 year. The meeting will be recessed to Australian ballot voting on the budget from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, at the Town Hall.
The Otter Valley Unified Union School District, according to a plan approved by the towns of Brandon, Goshen, Leicester, Pittsford, Sudbury and Whiting, is scheduled to begin operation on July 1, 2016. Its proposed budget for 2016-17 is $22.6 million, an equalized per pupil rate of $14,495.
At 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, the annual school meeting will be held. Voters will elect a moderator for a term of one year, a school district treasurer for a term of one year and a school director for a term of three years. In addition, voters will be asked to approve the expenditure of $633,161 ($12,606 per equalized pupil) by the Whiting Town School District. This amount represents a 9.24 percent spending decrease per equalized pupil as compared with the current year.
Showing posts with label Otter Valley Unified District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Otter Valley Unified District. Show all posts
28 February 2016
05 January 2016
School district vote Jan. 19
On Jan. 18 and 19, 2016, the region's voters will discuss and vote on a new governance model for two unified union school districts in the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union (RNESU).
Whiting voters will gather for a Special School District Meeting at the Whiting Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 18 to discuss the report of the Act 46 Study Committee and the details of the new governance model. The meeting will be recessed to an Australian ballot vote, conducted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19, on articles relating to the formation of the Otter Valley Unified Union School District.
The RNESU Act 46 Study Committee has recommended the creation of two new unified union school districts through merging the governance of existing member districts in a Side-by-Side Merger process outlined by the state legislature. The two districts will be the Otter Valley Unified Union School District, serving the towns of Brandon, Goshen, Leicester, Pittsfield, Sudbury and Whiting, and the Barstow Unified Union School District, serving the towns of Chittenden and Mendon.
Under the proposal, the Otter Valley Unified Union School District (OVUUSD) would unify six town school districts and the union high school district into a single unified union school district with a single 13-member governing board. Nine of the board seats would be apportioned to the six member towns according to town population. The remaining four would be at-large seats. At present, town populations would result in three seats designated for Brandon representatives, two for Pittsford and one each for Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting.
Becky Bertrand and Ellen L. Kurrelmeyer are competing for the two-year Whiting seat on the board.
None of the five existing elementary schools in the Otter Valley region would be closed for at least four years, according to the proposal, unless closure is approved by the voters of the town where the school is located. After the four-year period, a school could be closed with a two-thirds vote of the OVUUSD board. If a school is closed, its town would have the right to purchase the property for $1, provided it is used for public purposes for a minimum of five years.
If the proposal is approved by all member towns, the OVUUSD would begin operation on July 1, 2016.
For more information:
The RNESU Act 46 Study Committee has recommended the creation of two new unified union school districts through merging the governance of existing member districts in a Side-by-Side Merger process outlined by the state legislature. The two districts will be the Otter Valley Unified Union School District, serving the towns of Brandon, Goshen, Leicester, Pittsfield, Sudbury and Whiting, and the Barstow Unified Union School District, serving the towns of Chittenden and Mendon.
Under the proposal, the Otter Valley Unified Union School District (OVUUSD) would unify six town school districts and the union high school district into a single unified union school district with a single 13-member governing board. Nine of the board seats would be apportioned to the six member towns according to town population. The remaining four would be at-large seats. At present, town populations would result in three seats designated for Brandon representatives, two for Pittsford and one each for Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting.
Becky Bertrand and Ellen L. Kurrelmeyer are competing for the two-year Whiting seat on the board.
None of the five existing elementary schools in the Otter Valley region would be closed for at least four years, according to the proposal, unless closure is approved by the voters of the town where the school is located. After the four-year period, a school could be closed with a two-thirds vote of the OVUUSD board. If a school is closed, its town would have the right to purchase the property for $1, provided it is used for public purposes for a minimum of five years.
If the proposal is approved by all member towns, the OVUUSD would begin operation on July 1, 2016.
For more information:
- Otter Valley Unified Plan and Articles.
- Otter Valley Special Meeting Warning.
- Otter Valley School Board Candidate Ballot.
- Consolidation FAQ.
03 November 2015
Merger study committee meets tonight
The 18-member committee studying the proposed school governance merger (in compliance with state Act 46) between the Otter Valley and Barstow districts will meet tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 o'clock in the Otter Valley Union High School library. Public comment is welcome.
A public forum on Act 46 is scheduled for tomorrow, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at Cafe Provence in Brandon. A Nov. 7 public forum on the act is scheduled for Goshen Town Hall at 7 p.m. (potluck dinner at 5:30).
A public forum on Act 46 is scheduled for tomorrow, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at Cafe Provence in Brandon. A Nov. 7 public forum on the act is scheduled for Goshen Town Hall at 7 p.m. (potluck dinner at 5:30).
23 October 2015
Plan for school governance consolidation
The Joint Sudbury/Whiting School Board held a community forum Oct. 21, 2015, at the Sudbury Meeting House to discuss the planned "side-by-side" operation of the Otter Valley and Barstow school districts within a single supervisory union.
Under the plan, the Pre K to Grade 12 Otter Valley Unified District (including the six towns of Brandon, Pittsford, Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting) and the Pre K to Grade 8 Barstow District (Mendon and Chittenden-Barstow) would share centralized services, a single education budget and a single overseeing board.
A study committee of eighteen people, formed in June, is working on the specifics of the side-by-side model. It meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month through December at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon. The committee is due to report its recommendations in December. Articles prepared by the study committee would be presented to member towns for vote on Town Meeting Day in March.
The merger is planned in order to meet goals set in Act 46 (see below), which provides tax incentives for standardizing and combining smaller school districts. According to planners, the Otter Valley region would experience a 5 percent or $.08 decrease in the homestead tax rate as a result of the planned merger. (Reduction of $80 on every $100,000 of homestead value.) The tax benefit would decrease $.02 each year through the first four years of the merger.
Act 46
The state government noted a number of problems contributing to escalating school tax burdens:
Under the plan, the Pre K to Grade 12 Otter Valley Unified District (including the six towns of Brandon, Pittsford, Goshen, Leicester, Sudbury and Whiting) and the Pre K to Grade 8 Barstow District (Mendon and Chittenden-Barstow) would share centralized services, a single education budget and a single overseeing board.
A study committee of eighteen people, formed in June, is working on the specifics of the side-by-side model. It meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month through December at Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon. The committee is due to report its recommendations in December. Articles prepared by the study committee would be presented to member towns for vote on Town Meeting Day in March.
The merger is planned in order to meet goals set in Act 46 (see below), which provides tax incentives for standardizing and combining smaller school districts. According to planners, the Otter Valley region would experience a 5 percent or $.08 decrease in the homestead tax rate as a result of the planned merger. (Reduction of $80 on every $100,000 of homestead value.) The tax benefit would decrease $.02 each year through the first four years of the merger.
Act 46
The state government noted a number of problems contributing to escalating school tax burdens:
- The grade K through 12 student population in Vermont has decreased by about 24 percent (from 103,000 to 78,300) from 1997 to 2015, and the number of school-employed personnel has not decreased in the same proportion.
- Most of state schools have lower student populations than the optimum level, as established by national educational literature. A significant number of schools have very low student populations. (Sixty-four of 300 public schools have total enrollments of 100 or less students. Sixteen of those have enrollments of 50 or less.)
- Vermont's numerous school districts include only four with enrollment over the 2,000 students deemed optimal in national educational literature.
- Vermont has thirteen different styles of school district governance structures, preventing them from achieving economies of scale and limiting their sharing of resources with other districts.
- A 1999 law designed to protect small school districts from abrupt changes in school enrollment resulted in artifically low tax rates in those communities.
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