Consolidation
I believe that the real way to save money in education in Vermont today is not only district wide consolidation but county wide consolidation a fair amount of money goes to running the supervisory district. Multiply that times the number of supervisory districts (4) in Addison County and we are talking about quite a bit of money. Why should the residents pay for this duplication of services?
Right now in ANSEU we have 5 bus contracts, 5 teachers’ contracts and 2 or 3 different food contracts. The residents of Addison County are paying 4 Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents along with the staff in each office.
If we look at how things “work in the real world” there are plenty of examples of how large corporations use mergers and take overs to cut administrative costs by eliminating positions that are duplicated at their headquarters. That would mean that we could eliminate 3 of the highest paid positions in a school district, the Superintendent. Now add to that the power of a large county wide district to negotiate things like a single bus contract, a single teachers contract, a single food service contract, or even the leverage a combined district would have to negotiate their health care costs.
But what about local control you ask? I feel that with good communication between a board member and his or hers constituents, there would be no real loss of local control. If the goal is to save money, I feel we have a golden opportunity to do so.
If I were elected to the school board I would pursue consolidation. I would seek to engage help from our State Representatives and State Senators to make it happen. The Education Commissioner has recommended this to control education costs however, it seems like there has been very little movement in that direction. I would like to be a factor in bringing consolidation to not only Addison Northeast but to Addison County as a whole.
Dave
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