Vermont towns plan votes to separate merged school district

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Two Vermont towns that merged school districts less than two years ago have scheduled public votes to separate.

Readsboro and Halifax, which merged in June 2017, are the first towns to consider dissolving an Act 46 merger, Vermont Public Radio reported.

The towns decided to consolidate so the state couldn’t force them into a different merger with a larger district, which could have lead to the closing of their schools, said Homer Sumner, school board chairman.

“We didn’t fully embrace it at all, but the state was really pushing hard for consolidation,” Sumner said. “So Readsboro and Halifax still forged ahead on - kind of an arranged marriage.”

Problems arose when an engineering assessment determined that it would cost $1.5 million to $2 million to renovate the Readsboro school building, said school board member Helyn Strom-Henriksen.

Halifax residents started questioning why their taxes should go up to pay for something beyond their control.

Halifax will vote to withdraw from the Southern Valley Unified Union School District on Dec. 30. Readsboro is scheduled to vote Jan. 20.

Halifax has 85 students from pre-K to eighth grade, and Readsboro has 40 students.

Through a loophole, Readsboro and Halifax can legally leave a merged district just after joining it, according to a Vermont Agency of Education spokesman. But the towns will likely lose their Act 46 tax breaks and suffer other financial consequences.