And no, that isn’t a rhetorical question. The answer is not as plain as one would think.

There is a push to literally do away with our local schools coming from our Governor’s office, the state General Assembly and the state Board of Education. YOUR school boards are trying like hell to tell you about this, but few, particularly the general community, seem to be listening.

So where do I find this “pro-put Montpelier directly in charge of everything regarding education” movement? Act 153; the “Challenges for Change” drive to force arbitrary commissioner of Education defined budget cuts onto the schools; and the acceptance of the Common Core Curriculum by the state board of education.

I think the most pernicious of the big three is Act 153 (link), a bill that moves a substantial amount of the local boards’ authorities up to the supervisory union level BY MANDATE!. Negotiations with the teachers’ union will no longer be subject to approval by the local boards – moved up to the supervisory union; curriculum will no longer fall under local board review – moved up to the supervisory union. Staff hiring and firing will no longer be handled by the local boards – moved up to the supervisory union. That’s not an exhaustive list: even school busing can now be taken away from the local board by the supervisory union.

A school board’s greatest policy document is the budget and how it allocates financial resources. Spending decisions such as salary and benefits and curriculum and busing and more all directly impact the fiscal document folks across Vermont are used to voting on every spring: their local school budget. The budget, more than anything else, provides the community’s guidance to the school board and, more than anything else, reflects the policy priorities of the local school board.

Supervisory union budgets are not subject to approval by any community local or otherwise – these budgets are fait accompli – period. And the SU boards do not reflect the relative financial contribution to the supervisory union pot of gold.

The above two paragraphs display what is so pernicious about Act 153: the law pretends to provide a choice in consolidation by holding out the promise of monetary bribes carrots; but the law goes on to say quite clearly “[Doesn’t matter if you want to consolidate, however, because your local boards are going to become nothing more than student hearing committees anyway.]”

And the publicity has gone to the pretensions of voluntary action in the new law.

“Challenges for Change” budget cuts and acceptance of the Common Core Curriculum are the state Department of Education’s kick in the local school district groin. In the first instance we at the local level are told to cut back even further than has been done REGARDLESS our local circumstances, and in the second instance we are told our local budgets will have to absorb extra costs involved with the soon to be implemented, brand spanking shiny new, latest and greatest set of standardized instruction and testing regimes (aka Common Core Curriculum).

Nice.

It’s good to see push back on at least some of this as evidenced by the local boards from the member districts of the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union:

The letter, signed by the chairperson from each school board in Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union, accuses Act 146, or Challenges for Change, of using “our youth’s education as a political football,” and passing the responsibility onto local districts because the legislature is “seemingly unable to make tough decisions.”

(Boards express budget frustration in letter, Bennington Banner, 10/04/10)

Recently the Williamstown school board passed a resolution stating in part ‘Regarding your proposed “Challenges for Change” 2012 school budget cuts of which the Williamstown School District has been directed to find $125,409: We, the Williamstown School District board of directors, decline to participate.’ (You can read the whole letter in this GMD post, What the Williamstown school board had to say ….)

I hope folks are paying attention to all this because the eradication of the local school district has become (not “is becoming”) a reality that has the full backing of the politicians in Montpelier.