Don t miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
WESTMINSTER â With Westminster residents voting overwhelming to return to their traditional school district, the focus now turns to Grafton and Athens.
In a modest turnout for a special town meeting, Westminster voters voted 200-58 in favor of leaving the consolidated elementary school district, forced upon all three towns by the Vermont Board of Education.
In a second companion vote, 219-35, voters agreed to the steps needed for the local school district to re-establish its own Westminster School Board, and assuming ownership of its school buildings and other issues that were cancelled by the Act 46 forced merger.
Don t miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
WESTMINSTER â A group of Vermont parents is suing the state and three school districts, including Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, over âunequal access to education.â
According to the Liberty Justice Center, which is representing four families, including Brianna Schaefer, of Grafton, and Sara and Louis Vitale, of Athens, the stateâs educational tuition system âviolates the state constitution by allowing children residing in certain school districts to attend the school of their choice and denying the same right to others.â
The Liberty Justice Center, according to its website, has a team of lawyers who âfight to protect students, families, entrepreneurs and other Americans whose fundamental constitutional rights have been violated.â
BELLOWS FALLS â What a difference 24 hours makes .
Officials from the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union released new overall budget figures that were dramatically different from from budget figures discussed Monday night at a meeting of the Bellows Falls Union High School. At that time, a BFUHS budget increase of 11 percent was projected. Now the various budgets of the different schools in the union look like they will be close to level funded.
Superintendent Christopher Pratt and Business Manager Flora Pagan said they spent the entire day Tuesday working on the budget with other district officials, not so much cutting things, but re-aligning the budget without the state education finance system, eFinance.
Don t miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
WESTMINSTER â Members of the Bellows Falls Union High School board got their first look at the proposed 2021-22 school budget of $8.8 million and its 11 percent potential increase.
Flora Pagan, the business manager for the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, outlined the budget and its areas of major increases: special education is up 63 percent, she said. Director Jack Bryar of Grafton said that increase in special education âwas the largest percentage increase weâve had. It didnât look right,â he said.
The current school budget is $7.1 million.
Additionally, wages are budgeted at an increase of three percent, while benefits are up 8 percent.
Brattleboro
Brooks Memorial Library Technology Committee: 4:30 p.m. using GoToMeeting at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/822699469 or call 866-899-4679 (Access Code: 822-699-469).
Development Review Board: 7 p.m., via Zoom at https://bit.ly/2LCvvli (Passcode: 190450).
Windham Southeast Education District: Communications Council, noon via Zoom at https://bit.ly/34cF9Sd (Meeting ID: 954 4758 4572; Passcode: tSnb9C).
Windham Southeast School District Board: 6 p.m. via Zoom at https://bit.ly/3gMFnnT (Meeting ID: 954 4347 5244; Passcode: QD1QmC).
Townshend
Windham Central Supervisory Union Board: 6 p.m. remote meeting.
Vernon
Vernon Select Board: Special budget meeting, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom at https://bit.ly/2LB8j6Z or call 929-205-6099 (Meeting ID: 833 150 6567; Passcode: Vernon).