Three Towns .. One Community A Mission-Driven Learning Community - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Three Towns .. One Community A Mission-Driven Learning Community with a PK-12 Line of Sight

Timeline Chris Riley Region 4 Board of Education Chairman

2005

Timeline ✤ January, 2015: All Boards of Education unanimously endorsed moving forward on Regionalization ✤ March, 2015: Regionalization working group began drafting plan ✤ April, 2015: Draft plan presented to Boards of Education ✤ Now - June: Soliciting public feedback regarding draft plan. ✤ June 4, 2015: Region 4 Board of Education will vote on the draft plan for a potential September 29 referendum

Upcoming Events ✤ Three additional hearings on specific components of the plan: educational benefits, enrollment, and finances ✤ Smaller group meetings - Invite us over! ✤ Web based feedback area and information portal at Region 4 website

What Regionalization Is.. And is Not Michelle Grow Deep River Board of Education Chairwoman

What Regionalization Is

What Regionalization Is Better Serves Our Students

What Regionalization Is Addresses Enrollment Challenges

What Regionalization Is Saves Each Town Money

What Regionalization Is Preserves neighborhood schools

What Regionalization Is Provides a governance structure to effectively address problems at all grade levels when issues occur

What Regionalization Is Not

Regionalization is not a backdoor to school closure

Regionalization is not a backdoor to tiering grades

Regionalization will not weaken local control of education

Why Now? Lon Seidman Essex Board of Education Chairman

Better Serves Students

Current Structure ✤ Three Towns, Five Boards, Five Budgets ✤ Lack of a centralized authority for fiscal and administrative issues ✤ 33 Board Members

Board of Education

Board(s) of Education

Board(s) of Education

Board(s) of Education Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Board(s) of Education Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Fielding Members

Board(s) of Education Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Board(s) of Education Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Board(s) of Education Chester

Supervision District

Supervision District Region 4 BOE Chester BOE Supervision District Committee Deep River BOE PK-12 (Shared Services) Essex BOE

Supervision District Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Supervision District Region 4 Chester Deep River Essex

Supervision District 25 - 30% of Each Budget $6,755,255 
 2015-2016 State Doesn’t Recognize

Current Budget Structure ✤ 5 Budgets ✤ 15-20 Workshops (minimum) ✤ 5 Public Hearings ✤ 3 Town Votes ✤ 1 District Referendum

Structural Changes to Focus on Education

Current Structure Chester Deep River Essex Region 4 BOE Essex BOE Chester BOE Deep River BOE Central Administrative Office Chester Elem Deep River Elem Essex Elem Region 4 K-6 K-6 K-6 JW 7-8 VR 9-12 Supervision District PK-12

Regional Structure Voters Region 4 Board of Education Central Administrative Office Region 4 Schools CES, DRES, EES PK-6 JW 7-8 VR 9-12

Current Budget Structure

Regional Structure Regional PK-12 Budget Approved by Annual Referendum One Monthly Bill to Each Town Town of Deep Town of Chester Town of Essex River

Regionalization Advantages ✤ Centralized focus on teaching and learning PK-12 ✤ Faster implementation of elementary programs ✤ A single governing board accountable for district success ✤ One budget - not five ✤ Better accountability of the entire system PK-12

Enrollment

Chester ¡(K-­‑6) ¡Enrollment Deep ¡River ¡(K-­‑6) ¡Enrollment 400 400 364 358 351 353 349 351 357 353 347 335 341 350 350 333 330 322 319 312 303 299 300 300 283 275 271 259 251 244 250 250 228 219 222 220 209 205 197 188 182 196 188 186 183 177 174 170 167 164 200 200 150 150 Essex ¡(K-­‑6) ¡Enrollment Region ¡4 ¡(7-­‑12) ¡Enrollment 600 1050 560 557 552 550 551 548 543 989 974 963 550 972 973 956 1000 519 931 946 953 949 916 925 950 500 477 884 451 900 862 450 838 407 850 400 782 800 367 741 750 350 330 699 307 700 300 284 269 628 650 607 239 250 231 224 600 567 207 206 200 550

Total ¡(K-­‑12) ¡Enrollment 2400 2200 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000

10 - 15 Year Problem

Births1 4,400,000 3,900,000 3,400,000 2,900,000 2,400,000 1940 1950 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2009

Saving Each Town Money

Towns Retain Building Ownership

$900,000 anticipated savings in the first four years

Inter-municipal agreement brings additional savings to each town

Inter-municipal agreement brings additional savings to each town Agreement designed to help towns maintain their neighborhood schools

Regional Financial Incentives ✤ Each town will recognize immediate savings ✤ 10% reimbursement “bonus” on school construction projects ✤ $100 per student ECS “bonus” to member towns based on numbers they send to the state. ✤ R4 towns currently receive this bonus for 7-12 students ✤ Reduction of administrative overhead (payroll, audits, etc) in each town hall.

1948

It’s Time

Regionalization Governance Subcommittee A Mission-Driven Learning Community with a PK-12 Line of Sight