Committee of 10 Begins Work on Consolidation Effort

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Published on September 1 2015 11:32 am
Last Updated on September 1 2015 2:18 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The Commitee of 10 tasked with promoting the consolidation of the Brownstown and St. Elmo school districts held its initial meeting Monday night.

Proponents of the idea say reduced state funding and declining enrollment are what is driving the initiative.

Five people from each school district make up the Committee of 10. They are, from Brownstown: Randy Mason, the Brownstown School Board President, school board member Kent Kistler, community member Clay Chandler, high school secretary Ashley Towler representing support staff, and high school Business teacher Michele Seabaugh representing the certified staff, and from St. Elmo: school board members Shannon Moss and Mindy Healy, community member Jake McWhorter, junior high Math teacher Michelle Schaal representing the certified staff, and bus driver Mandy Miller representing the support staff. All but Seabaugh were present for the meeting.

Committee members chose co-chairpersons who will be spokespeople for each district; Randy Mason for Brownstown and Shannon Moss for St. Elmo. Michelle Seabaugh will be secretary of the committee with Michelle Schaal as backup.

The committee members each received a sample petition from the 2008 Committee of 10 when the matter previously went to a vote. It was also decided each Committee of 10 member will obtain a copy of a legal petition from their respective district office with the intent of obtaining 13 registered voter signatures. Petitions will be due back into respective district offices by Monday, September 11.

The goal is to have the consolidation question on the March 15, 2016 election ballot. The measure has to pass in both current school districts for it to be approved. The election of a school board for the new district would be on the November 2016 ballot with the members to be elected at-large.

The committee agreed that the tax rates would be at the state default rates of $1.84 for the Education Fund, $.50 for the Operations and Maintenance Fund, and $.20 for the Transportation Fund. It was also agreed that each existing district would handle eliminating its share of any existing debt; Brownstown would keep its debt until paid off, and the same for St. Elmo. 

The Committee of 10 will next meet on Wednesday, October 7 at 7:30pm in the Brownstown board office.