Hello Putney Residents,
Below is a link to an important Act 46 compliance survey from the Putney Town School District Board. We encourage every resident to respond to this survey by December 6.
The best way to respond is to follow this link to survey monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2VYSMW2
If doing the survey online is not possible or practical, we have provided the questions here. Responses are needed by December 6 at the latest. Hand written responses can be dropped off at the Putney Central School front office, or mailed to the school at the address provided below. Please attach additional pages as necessary. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us plan for the future of education in our town and the state of Vermont.
Putney Town School District Board
182 Westminster Road
Putney, VT 05346
ptsdboard@wsesu.org
Putney Town School District Survey
Act 46 was signed into law in 2015 by Governor Shumlin. The Act requires districts and school boards to evaluate the education provided to their students, its cost to their taxpayers and its sustainability by 2018. Act 46 is intended to support thoughtful consideration of changes to educational governance, outcome and costs. As a response, for the last two years our board has had two representatives participate in intensive study with board members from Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney and Vernon. Act 49, 2017, offered us an extension of time for our considerations. The process resulted in a consideration of a merger of Putney, Brattleboro, Dummerston and Guilford which was voted down on November 7.
What’s next? As part of the Act 46 compliance process, the Putney Town School District school board will submit a report to the Agency of Education to show the state how Putney Town School District is going to meet the requirements of Act 46. PTSD will make a submission to the Agency of Education and State Board of Education on or before December 26th, 2017. The Secretary of Education has been charged with developing a proposal and the State Board will then issue a final statewide design that realigns un-merged districts into more sustainable models of governance that meet State goals — to the extent realignment is necessary, possible, and practicable for the region.
As a Putney voter, this is your opportunity to provide specific feedback to the PTSD, so that we may incorporate further public suggestions into our submission. We ask that you do so by December 6th, 2017. There will not be a public vote regarding the final plan by the State Board.
Article of Agreement can be found online at: http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us/boards/Final%20Articles%20of%20Agreement20170911.pdf
Printed copies of the Articles of Agreement are available at the Putney Central School office.
The goals of Act 46 which must be met:
(1) provide substantial equity in the quality and variety of educational opportunities statewide; (2) lead students to achieve or exceed the State’s Education Quality Standards, adopted as rules by the State Board of Education at the direction of the General Assembly; (3) maximize operational efficiencies through increased flexibility to manage, share, and transfer resources, with a goal of increasing the district-level ratio of students to full-time equivalent staff; (4) promote transparency and accountability; and (5) are delivered at a cost that parents, voters, and taxpayers value.
Act 46 link: http://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2016/Docs/ACTS/ACT046/ACT046%20As%20Enacted.pdf
Act 49 link:
http://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/ACTS/ACT049/ACT049%20As%20Enacted.pdf
1. Your name _____________________________________________
2. Are you a Putney Resident? yes / no
3. Are you a staff member at PTSD? yes/no
4. What do you value about our children’s education at Putney Central School and Brattleboro Union High School?
5. How do you think Putney should address our declining school enrollment and rising costs?
6. Of the proposals in the articles of agreement, what should we consider retaining or expanding? How?
7. What considerations have not yet been addressed?