Andover is deciding whether it will negotiate over continued membership in SAD 44.

That process requires two town votes to make any change. The first one (on Sept. 18) is to authorize a special town committee to undertake negotiations with SAD 44 and to spend no more than $24,000 for its work.

If that first town vote is favorable, a second town vote is required to take any action. That vote will take place some months later, only after the results of the negotiations have defined the specific proposed terms and those negotiation results have been approved by the state Board of Education and disclosed publicly to all voters so that every voter can decide for himself or herself whether those terms are good ones for Andover.

While Andover’s proposed withdrawal from SAD 44 is one possible outcome of these negotiations, it is not the only one. For example, the negotiations could result in a proposal presented to Andover voters in that second town vote that Andover stay in SAD 44, with a binding commitment made by SAD 44 to keep the Andover Elementary School open for the long term, provided that its enrollment does not fall below a specific number of students.

So the first Andover vote on Sept. 18, if successful, decides only that negotiations between the town and SAD 44 will proceed. Yet that result in itself gives Andover the opportunity to seek and obtain a really good outcome both for its taxpayers and for its children.

Steve Hudspeth, Andover, for the Andover Ad-Hoc School Committee