July 25, 2007 -- During its annual organizational meeting on Tuesday, July 10 the North Colonie Board of Education announced that a binding vote on the annexation of the Maplewood-Colonie Common School District by the North Colonie Central School District was set for Thursday, October 11, 2007. If residents of both districts support the plan in October, the districts would become one on July 1, 2008.

Both school districts held unofficial, non-binding votes in May during their Annual Elections and Budget Votes. Voters in North Colonie approved the annexation of the Maplewood School by a margin of 1,760 to 710, whereas more than 88 percent of Maplewood voters approved moving forward.

"To date, we are very pleased with the strong community support of this proposed annexation, and we believe it is in our mutual best interests to take the next step towards a binding vote," said Assistant Superintendent for Business Thomas J. Rybaltowski.

The Maplewood school district has been experiencing double-digit tax increases in the past few years, and now finds itself at risk of losing instructional programs to keep tax rates down. Meanwhile, North Colonie continues to be financially stable and would benefit, along with Maplewood, from an annexation because of the Reorganizational Incentive Aid they will receive over the next 14 years, as well as an increase in Building Aid.

The North Colonie Central School District has made assurances to the Maplewood community that the Maplewood School would remain open for at least 7-10 years. Beyond that, the future of Maplewood would be determined by the Board of Education.

A committee made up of 26 members, including students, teachers, local businesses, non-instructional staff, residents and senior citizens, was formed in fall 2006 to study the feasibility of combining the North Colonie School District with the Maplewood District. To learn more about the study and the annexation, visit the Maplewood Annexation Feasibility Study Committee section.