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Districts Aim for November Ballot

Avon Supt. Dan Oakley
Avon Supt. Dan Oakley

The Avon and Abingdon school districts hope to put a consolidation measure before voters before the end of the year.

The districts have to file a petition for the election with the regional superintendent of education by May 7th to get the issue on the November ballot.

Avon Superintendent Dan Oakley is confident the paperwork will be done in time. He said the parties will hold quite a few meetings to get the work done by the end of April.

The two school boards are scheduled to hold a joint meeting Sunday, May 6th, to approve the final petition for the ballot measure.

He said, “The biggest issues that have to be done by May 7th are the tax rate and also how are we going to elect the school board members.”

Oakley said the election of school board members could be delayed until April 2013. He said that would not give the new board much time to finish up the consolidation process. He expects candidates for the new school board will appear on the same ballot as the consolidation proposal.

The two districts have formed a Committee of 10 to work on the consolidation process. It has laid out a timeline for its work and has elected officers and formed subcommittees. Oakley said the committee has three school board members from Avon and two board members from Abingdon.

Once the petition for the election if filed, Oakley said the committee would have until mid-August to complete the consolidation work. That would leave a little over two months for the committee members to present the proposal to the public.

If voters approve the consolidation in November the district could being operation July 1, 2013.