Education News
STARKSBORO — Starksboro residents are being asked to attend a May 10 special town meeting to discuss, and vote from the floor, a petitioned request that the town withdraw from the Mount Abraham Unified School District.
If they do vote to leave, it would come about two months after the town of Lincoln got the blessing of the four other towns in the district — Bristol, New Haven, Monkton and Starksboro — to exit.
On May 10, Starksboro voters will be asked to field two articles at the in-person meeting, to begin at 7 p.m. in the Robinson Elementary School multipurpose room:
1) Shall the legal voters of the town of Starksboro withdraw its membership in the MAUSD and be reconstituted as the Starksboro town school district.
2) Shall the Starksboro selectboard be allowed to terminate the withdrawal process if the Merger Study Committee (formed by the Addison Northwest School District and MAUSD) agrees to a provision allowing the town to vote on whether its elementary school should be closed or repurposed, or if a potential merger of the Addison Northwest School District and MAUSD is ultimately rejected by voters.
The decision by the selectboard to have the articles voted from the floor — as opposed to an Australian ballot scenario in which more residents would be able to weigh in — is drawing early criticism on social media from some town residents. The selectboard, in a recent Front Porch Forum post authored by board member Koran Cousino, offered this in reply:
“The selectboard would like to take this opportunity to explain that the reason why we will vote the petitioned articles from the floor, is because floor voting is the method our town uses to vote on public questions at special or annual town meetings. This method of voting cannot be changed by the selectboard, there must be a town-wide vote to switch to Australian ballot at an annual or special meeting. We have heard from a few townspeople asking why we voted by Australian ballot the last two years. The quick answer is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Legislature passed Act 162 in 2021 and Act 77 in 2022 that allowed for changing the method of voting, to discourage assembling large groups for the annual town meeting only. The selectboard has worked with our legal counsel and the Secretary of State’s Election Division to make sure that this is the appropriate voting method. Please reach out to me at kcousino@starksborovt.org with any additional questions.”
If Starksboro residents vote in favor of withdrawing, that action would then have to be affirmed by a majority of voters in the other MAUSD member towns. If that occurs, the town would take its independence case to the State Board of Education for its possible endorsement. Lincoln is still awaiting state board permission to leave the MAUSD.
If Starksboro leaves, it would be in charge of its own preK-12 public education system — including central office, special education and transportation services, unless the state board decides to assign the town to a school supervisory union to provide those essential amenities.
Starksboro could also consider joining a new Mountain Supervisory Union that’s being considered by the towns of Lincoln and Ripton.
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Starksboro to vote on MAUSD exit - Addison County Independent
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