Over 700 people in the Harwood Unified Union School District responded to a school board survey seeking input on state plans to create large school districts across the state. That represents between 5.1 and 6.3% of the 13,968 residents (in 2020) in the six towns in the school district. The variation has to do with the age range of those residents.
That effort, through Act 73, may be faltering, after the committee appointed by the Legislature to make its recommendations next month met this week. According to a VTDigger report, committee members are now questioning whether consolidation will ever receive local buy-in, whether the desired economies of scale will be reached and whether the timeline is achievable.
Those concerns are echoed in the responses to the school board’s October survey.
“The big takeaway from the survey was the overwhelming interest our communities have in redistricting,” said HUUSD board chair Ashley Woods, Warren. “We had over 700 responses, compared to about 200 responses in last year's survey about the budget.
Residents were deeply skeptical that consolidation of school districts will cut costs significantly. Even on the survey question that asked about advantages of consolidation, 49% of respondents said they saw little or no cost savings, while 35% did cite potential cost savings.
“This indicates that the finances of creating large districts are very unclear,” commented Woods. “In the next legislative session, we need to see transparent cost tables for proposed facility work and long-term maintenance on our school buildings, as well as ideas for phased and cost-efficient approaches before those for large scale spending.”
A breakdown of respondents showed that most were parents and caregivers. Here’s how it looks:
- Parents/caregivers: 58%.
- Community member: 24%.
- Teachers: 5.1%.
- Students: 4.7%.
- Support staff: 2%.
- Other: about 16%.
Here is where respondents live:
- Moretown: 1,893, 13.6% of district population, 18% of responses.
- Fayston: 1,412, 10.1% of district population, 10.5% of responses.
- Warren: 1,701, 12.2% of district population, 10.7% of responses.
- Waitsfield: 1,854, 13.3% of district population, 12.1% of responses.
- Duxbury: 1,396, 10.0% of district population, 10.5% of responses.
- Waterbury: 5,712, 40.9% of population, 32.8% of responses.
- Other: about 2%.
A few issues were raised repeatedly, regardless of whether the respondent was pro- or anti-consolidation. These included unsustainable increases in property taxes, lack of state funding for construction/maintenance costs, and increased transportation times for students.
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Those leery of consolidation focused on loss of community if schools are closed, and loss of local input into the educational process, the board noted in a press release.
“Overall,” Woods said, “our residents care deeply about education in our district and are paying attention. The range of their opinions highlighted the complexity of the issues we face.”
A full report on the survey is at https://tinyurl.com/2m6z82at. Further public comment is welcome and community members can contact Woods (
