Yaak, Sylvanite trustees to talk consolidation

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

Trustees of Yaak School District want to meet with their Sylvanite School District counterparts to discuss consolidation.

The Yaak board of directors voted Tuesday to formally request a meeting with the Sylvanite board early next week.

"I think Sylvanite would have something to gain" from consolidation, Yaak board member Gary Harding said.

Both of the remote one-school districts are suffering from low enrollment. Yaak, which Harding said enrolled more than 20 students in the late 1970s, will probably have three students next year.

Sylvanite School currently has three students, but one will graduate this spring and move on to Troy Middle School next fall.

Harding said it's worth preserving the small schools, both from a financial standpoint as well as educationally.

"I was in that (Yaak) school when there were just five students, and I went on to medical school," he said. "We have an excellent, innovative teacher.

"I think the Yaak has a quality of education that shows when our students go down to high school."

Also, Yaak taxpayers pay less than those in Troy School District. Yaak district clerk Rebecca Harrison said annexation to Troy would cost local residents "significantly" more.

That's because the ratio of Yaak's taxable valuation to its $60,000 school budget is greater than is Troy's.

"Troy would see us as a plum," Harding said.

Sylvanite board member Mel Blecher said either struggling for existence alone or consolidating with Yaak would be better than annexing to Troy School District.

"I don't think anybody wants Troy controlling the destiny of the Yaak," he said.

Blecher said he has mixed feelings about consolidation with Yaak School District. But he added, "I am interested in talking with them."

Meanwhile, Yaak trustees have approved putting a $7,500 levy on the May 3 election ballot. Sylvanite's trustees also have voted to ask taxpayers to approve a levy, but have not yet determined an amount.

Harrison, Yaak's clerk, said projected enrollments for both small districts probably will require levy attempts for at least the next two years.

She mentioned another incentive for Yaak and Sylvanite to combine. The state of Montana would give the district $20,000 annually for three years if they voluntarily consolidate. The bonus would continue for three more years, although at 25 percent less.

That money would be in addition to the normal per-student allocation the state gives to public school districts.

"We wouldn't have to do a levy if we consolidated," Harrison said. "That's an incentive. It's an alternative to both school districts taking a chance of not passing levies and having to go non-operational."

If consolidation occurred after that, she said, the state would not give the entitlement bonus.

Yaak board member Harding believes there's an intangible factor for maintaining schools in the Yaak that goes beyond dollars and cents.

"My heart's been in the Yaak as a teenager and now that I'm back. I feel it would be nice to have a school in the Yaak, or to have one district with two buildings."