By Duane Good • EDITOR MILLERSBURG
The Millersburg and Upper Dauphin Area school districts won’t be getting engaged. But they hope to stay good friends. In a joint meeting of school boards March 15, the long-discussed proposal to join both districts into one new entity received majority support (7-2) by Millersburg’s representatives and unanimous opposition (0-9) by all of UDA’s. Specifically, the motion made March 15 sought to secure both district’s approval to forward the proposal to the state Department of Education for review and final action. State approval still was necessary for the merger to become reality. The projected date for the new school district to start business would have been July 1, 2022. The Millersburg board’s reaction to the merger decision is included in a separate article below. The UDA board’s next meeting is Thursday, March 25. The Story So Far Last week’s vote was a climax of almost two years of discussion, study and public meetings on whether the two local school districts could operate more efficiently – and with enhanced educational and extracurricular opportunities – as one entity rather than two. Declining enrollment and rising financial pressures facing both districts were cited among the reasons the merger idea came to the table. SEE MERGER • PAGE A2