School districts merger once again possible

Voter signatures needed to proceed

By Manor Ink Staff

Town of Rockland, NY – Both the Livingston Manor Board of Education and the Roscoe Board of Education have voted to move forward on the next step toward establishing a merged school district.

Each board must seek registered voters from their respective school districts to signal their support by signing a petition in favor of the merger. At press time, both districts have secured about half of the signatures required. If the requisite number is met and confirmed, the state’s Commissioner of Education is expected to schedule an official merger referendum vote in early to mid-December. If the vote passes in both school communities, the reorganization process will move forward over the next year.

The joint school board meeting was held on Oct. 7 at LMCS. Members of both boards were joined by State Senator Peter Oberacker. He and Supt. John Evans reported on changes anticipated in the state’s aid to the districts, and advocated for both school communities to take full advantage of new incentives for consolidation. Additional informational meetings were held on Oct. 17 and Oct. 23. The public was invited and participated in all the meetings.

Supt. Evans addressed what has changed since the merger was last voted down in October 2022. He highlighted further decreases in student enrollment and the enormous increase in state aid for the merger of $31 million over 14 years, as well as construction aid of 89.4 percent for the next ten years if the school districts are consolidated.

Another significant change from prior proposals is the creation of a Restructuring Committee that would convene to make recommendations to the consolidated board on how various aspects of the new school district would function. Made up of board members, teachers, administrators, staff, parents and students, the committee would review current data and building uses to ensure that decisions about implementing the reorganization would be informed by all the stakeholders.

The additional state funding would mean that both school buildings would continue to be used and that school buses could be added as needed to ensure that students’ travel times would not increase.

Once the requisite number of voters has signed the merger petition, the date of the referendum will be posted on the school district websites, Manor Ink’s social media pages and other local media channels. Information about the latest enrollment numbers, budgets, state aid and potential impacts of a decision either way can be found on each of the school websites, lmcs.k12.ny.us/page/district, and roscoe.k12.ny.us/page/merger-study. To add your name to the petition, stop by the front entrance of either school where it will be available at reception.