State officials say declining enrollment and rising costs are creating fewer opportunities for students in small schools.
Two years ago the legislature passed Act 153, which offered incentives for towns in supervisory unions to join together to create Regional Education Districts (REDs) with a single regional school board taking the place of local boards.
The idea was that REDs offered more efficiency, flexibility and educational opportunity. But so far all but one district that has voted on a RED has rejected it. So, this year lawmakers are offering another approach that doesn’t require every town in a district to approve the merger.
We talk with Representative Johannah Donovan of Burlington who chairs the House Education Committee and Senator Kevin Mullin of Rutland, chair of the Senate Education Committee about the new law and about the concerns raised about school district mergers. Post your comment below.
Also in the program, singer-songwriter Francesca Blanchard of Charlotte.
She’s released her first six-song EP, called "Songs On An Ovation,"
featuring music she wrote while playing her mother’s Ovation guitar.
And we visit with Windsor artist Carol Santa Maria whose new show celebrates the cultures of West Africa and Mexico.