TO: Superintendents and School Board Chairs
FROM: Krista Huling, Chair, State Board of Education
SUBJECT: School districts that Submitted Section 9 Proposals; Regional Meetings
DATE: July 3, 2018
Act 46, Sec. 10(b) requires the State Board of Education to:
- “review and analyze the Secretary’s proposal under the provisions in [Sec. 10 (a)]”
- “approve the proposal either in its original form or in an amended form that adheres to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section;” and
- “publish on the Agency’s website its order merging and realigning districts and supervisory unions where necessary.”
Section 10(b) authorizes, but does not require, the State Board to “take testimony or ask for additional information from districts and supervisory unions.” Note that this is in contrast to the statutory requirement that the State Board “provid[e] notice” and “an opportunity to be heard” to each § 706 study committee before the Board makes a decision on any proposed merger. 16 V.S.A. § 706(c). It is also in contrast to the Act 46, Sec. 10(a) expectation that the Secretary have a “conversation” with each district or group of districts that submitted a Section 9 Proposal.
I. Pursuant to its authority to “take testimony or ask for additional information from districts and supervisory unions:”
- The State Board of Education requests that the elected representatives of each district or group of districts that submitted a Section 9 Proposal provide written responses to the questions on Appendix A to this memorandum.
- The State Board of Education will provide the elected representatives of each district or group of districts that submitted a Section 9 Proposal with a period of 20 minutes to give testimony and respond to questions from the State Board. Plan on no more than 10 minutes for the presentation to ensure that at least 10 minutes are available for questions. Due to the volume of proposals and in the interest of fairness, the allotted 20 minutes is the maximum possible time available for each proposal. The time will not be extended beyond 20 minutes for any proposal.