Rightsizing our schools: Former board members suggest a path forward for the Harwood district
May 17, 2024 | By Scott Mackey, David Goodman, Alexandra Thomsen, Laura Caffry, Rosemarie White, Dale Smeltzer and Eve Frankel The voters have now rejected the Harwood Unified Union School District budget twice, rejecting both the original budget and a slightly lower second proposal that made cuts in one-time expenditures but failed to address the long-term structural spending problem that faces our district.
It is time for that conversation before the third budget is voted on.
We are former school board members from around the Harwood district. We care deeply about the quality and sustainability of education in our communities. We have come together to suggest a path forward that will help ensure smoother passage for future budgets by committing the district to fundamental changes that address a central problem.
It is time to name the elephant in the room: our district has too many schools for too few students. The bill for this has finally arrived in the form of double-digit tax hikes. This is neither affordable nor sustainable.
The Harwood school district — originally comprised of five elementary schools and a middle/high school — was created in the 1960s when it had 2,200 students. According to the district’s latest enrollment report, it now has around 1,600 K-12 students, and two middle schools (Crossett Brook Middle School opened in 1996). Ten years from now, our K-12 population is projected to drop to just over 1,400. The report shows that this June, fewer than 100 students will graduate from Harwood Union High School, nearly half the size of the graduating class just 20 years ago, and just two years ago, one of our pre-K-6 schools had zero sixth graders.
Every school, no matter how small, requires staff and maintenance. Today, we have more administrative, instructional, and support staff than when the district had 600 more students.
We should be investing in educational programs, not under-enrolled school buildings.
How did we get here? The fact is that Vermont’s school finance system has allowed every school board across the state to avoid making the tough decisions necessary to align school spending with the realities of our smaller school population. We’ve known about these declining enrollments for decades but have collectively failed to act.
The problem has now become a crisis. Harwood has never had two successive school budgets voted down. We hear that “all options are on the table” as the school board devises new budgets, but the reality is that the main options being considered are cutting programs and maintenance budgets.
The elephant just keeps tromping around the room.
This crisis offers an opportunity to reconfigure and right-size our school district to make our schools sustainable and affordable now and into the future.
In order to gain support for next year’s school budget, we respectfully request that the Harwood Unified Union School Board commit to:
Developing a plan to reconfigure the district, including school closure options
Placing an advisory question on the ballot in November 2024 that asks district voters the following: “Shall the Harwood Unified Union School Board develop and implement a plan to reconfigure the district by closing one or more district schools by July 1, 2026?”
This is what our neighbors are doing. Voters in the Washington Central school district, which includes the U-32 Middle/High School, only approved their second budget after their Board pledged to move forward with a district reconfiguration proposal that will be voted on this November.
As former board members, we understand that serving on the School Board is a very difficult task, especially given the education funding crisis facing our state. An advisory ballot question will allow the Board to gauge voter opinion on these difficult questions as we seek a path forward to providing an excellent education for our students at a cost that taxpayers can afford.
We will only support the third Harwood budget if there is a commitment to bring this advisory question to voters, so that it can be acted on in the coming year.
If we don’t make significant changes right now, the property tax situation in our towns is going to get much worse in the next 3 to 5 years. It is imperative that we do not put off tough decisions yet again. Our students and communities deserve great and affordable schools.
Scott Mackey, Waterbury, former Harwood Union High School board member
David Goodman, Waterbury, former HUHS Board member
Alexandra Thomsen, Waterbury, former member of the Waterbury-Duxbury and Harwood Unified Union school boards
Laura Caffry, Waitsfield, former Harwood Union High School board member
Rosemarie White, Warren, former member of Harwood Union High School and Harwood Unified Union school boards
Dale Smeltzer, Waterbury, former member of the Waterbury-Duxbury and Harwood Union High School school boards
Eve Frankel, Waitsfield, former member of the Waitsfield School Board and Washington West Supervisory Union board