A committee of town and school officials from Hampton and Scotland has been formed to discuss possible collaborations between the town’s schools in response to rising concerns on the costs of operating the schools while student populations continue to dramatically decrease. Reportedly, Scotland has 88 students attending its elementary school, while Hampton has only 71.

Discussions at their first meeting included a range of possibilities, from sharing certified staff for art, music and physical education, to administrative services such as superintendent, principal, business coordinator, and director of special education. It was decided to hold another meeting after the school boards adopted their respective budgets for FY2021-2022, however the elementary school superintendents, Hampton’s Frank Olah and Scotland’s Frank Baron, met on March 9 to review educational and facility comparisons between the two schools. A tuition rate of $7,800 per Hampton student to attend school in Scotland was offered and sent to Hampton’s Board of Education Chairman Rose Bisson and First Selectman Al Cahill, who announced the tuition offer to the Boards of Selectmen and Finance, but at the next committee meeting on April 22, Scotland First Selectman Gary Greenburg suggested that tuitioning students should be a last resort if no meaningful savings could be found in collaborative efforts between the schools. Members concurred that operating a single school, with the two towns sharing the responsibility of educating the students under a cooperative agreement, would be a better option. To that end, the committee has decided to extend its membership to include school and community members from the two towns to conduct research with a two-pronged approach: mission and programming; and governance and finance.

The next meeting of the Committee for Inter-district Education Cost Sharing is on June 3; the meetings are open to the public, and time is allotted for public comment.