Region 12 board should reconsider consolidation plan

Thursday, March 20, 2014

As a former Roxbury member of the Region 12 Board of Education, the challenge of educating fewer kids, and the seeming potential for significant tax savings, tempted me to think the time to build a new consolidated elementary school may have come.

However, the proposal being brought to an April 29 referendum projects that consolidation will reduce Region 12's budget by 4 percent. Since this budget accounts for about 75 percent of the town budgets, this may mean a tax break of 3 percent. For me, that amounts to $3 per week. These schools provide among the best elementary educations in Connecticut, as well as being centers of our communities. I don't want to risk that excellence and permanently alter the character of my town to save pocket change. 

Perhaps the bigger question is whether we should be spending the $8 million that is being proposed to limp along in the Shepaug Middle/High School building. That building's population is projected to decline from 470 students now to 282 in 2023.
The building is designed for four times that many students. The high-school population is projected to be about 40 per graduating class in 2023. Is it even possible to offer rich, diverse educational and athletic opportunities in so small a high school?

Clearly, broader thinking is needed here, and the current plan doesn't provide it. Because of theses considerations, I can't vote for the proposed change to the regionalization plan or the bond issue.

Andy Engel
Roxbury