Twin Valley Joint District Annual Report 2010
Report of the Twin Valley School District Board of School Directors
This past year has been another successful one for the Twin Valley School District. The sixth year of the Twin Valley school system continues showing us the success of the collaboration between the Whitingham and Wilmington School Districts. This year we have been forced to face one of the most difficult fiscal ones for the school district. We are not alone. The State education fund is under great pressure and even though our budget is down this year from last, we must deal with the State’s raising the property tax rate. Hopefully, this will be the year that the legislature has the courage and fortitude to find a better way to tax Vermonters. The school board has done its best and will continue to try and find innovative ways to improve our schools, while saving the taxpayers money.
Over the past six years, we have averaged about a 2% per year increase in our overall budgets, an amount well below the State average. Although some of our costs have continued to rise, we have been able to cut other costs and are able to present a budget this year that is very close to being level funded. That fact, combined with the fact that the penalty threshold increases each year, has enabled us to keep both towns out of the penalty for this coming year. Our administration has worked effectively with the board to cut the budget in places where the least negative effect will be made to our quality of education.
Probably one of the greatest decisions to face the two towns in the past 50 years will be upon us this coming year. We have reached a critical juncture where we must decide how to best deal with our facility needs. The three school boards along with the Facility Committee are currently looking at two proposals. One proposal is to renovate the current high school building in Wilmington. The second is to further consolidate our schools going from using three buildings in both towns to two buildings. The process of gathering the information that our townspeople need in order to reach a decision has been a complicated and lengthy one. I encourage everyone in both towns to become involved and to educate themselves on the two proposals as they are presented.
We ask that you become involved with our schools if you aren’t already. It is only through public participation that we will make our schools the best they can be.
Thank you for helping make our schools a success.