Local News

Consolidation Discussed During Joint Board Meeting

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 14:26:15 CDT

Members of the Hillsboro and Litchfield School Boards held a joint meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 29, and discussed a potential consolidation between the two districts.

The meeting opened with comments from the public, and a pair of former Montgomery County board members spoke about what a consolidated district and new singular high school would mean for the students.

Mike Plunkett, an alumnus of Hillsboro High School, opened explaining how this consolidation effort is different than most. He said typically when two districts consolidate, it is because they are being forced to for a myriad of reasons. He said knows both districts are doing fine on their own, but this consolidation effort is about doing better than fine. He concluded by encouraging the boards to give the voters in each district the opportunity to decide for themselves if they would like to consolidate or not.

Bob Mulch was the second to speak. The former county board member was one of the representatives of the County School Study Commission who was present at the meeting. He cited Hillsboro's need of a new high school building and Litchfield's desire for a singular facility for elementary school students as reasons that consolidation makes sense. He concluded that the main question for board members to answer is 'should the question of consolidation be brought to the voters.'

None of the board members present spoke in favor of or against consolidation. However, a number brought up concerns either they had personally or had heard from constituents. Hillsboro board members Greg Bellaver and Barbara Adams each mentioned transportation as potential issues with a consolidated high school. The Hillsboro district pulls from a wide geographical area, and the cost of transporting students to a new building between Litchfield and Hillsboro -- which was the commission's recommendation -- would increase.

Litchfield Board President Julie Abel said her constituents are looking for property tax relief, and paying for a projected $60 million facility would not provide that. Hillsboro's Earl Meier said he thought more citizens would attend Tuesday evening's meeting and claimed he was not hearing a great deal of enthusiasm from board members or members of the public. He added that he would like to hear more from the public, to which Plunkett responded that there is no better way to get the public's opinion than to ask them to vote on a ballot.

There were disagreements, but the conversations Tuesday remained civil. No action was taken and there is no timetable for when each board will make a decision as to what comes next. The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:30 p.m.