SOUTHBURY — After years of site studies and community debate, Region 15 voters said “yes” Wednesday to building two new elementary schools, one at Gainfield (GES) and the other at Pomperaug (PES).
Across Southbury and Middlebury, 2,474 voters – 57.6 percent – backed the school construction question to 1,820 opposed.
At times, lines to vote spilled out of the firehouse next to Town Hall, as Southbury’s turnout rate of roughly 20 percent made it the highest-participation springtime referendum the town has seen in a decade.
It wasn’t long after the polls closed at 8 p.m. before results began trickling in from both towns.
Southbury voted in favor of the construction project, 1,935 to 1,172. Middlebury voted narrowly against it, 648 no to 539 yes.
Region 15 Board of Education Chair Marion Manzo expressed gratitude towards the community she says voted to “do the right thing”.
“A tremendous amount of work went into this by many people for over two years and it was amazing to see the community advocating for the new school construction,” said Manzo. “I’m also appreciative of our Board members who are in the arena and had the courage of their convictions.”
On the road to the referendum, both Manzo and Superintendent Josh Smith called the plan the “fiscally responsible” thing to do.
“We let the information tell the story of what the best choice was,” said Smith, noting the high turnout. “I appreciate the engagement and attention to information. They showed up today and acted upon it.”
With a deadline looming at the end of next month to submit an application to the state, the Board of Education will meet later this month to go over some of the immediate next steps. Some of those include reviewing the educational specifications of the plan, as well as making procedural moves like authorizing the creation of a Building Committee and authorizing the Superintendent to submit the application.
A meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 8 for the official approval of the minutes of those meetings to be held in the coming weeks.
Voters approved their share of the separate $95.6 million budget question for the school district, as well as their respective municipal budgets.
Unofficial results as of 11:00 a.m. Thursday, according to the Town Clerks office of both towns:
“Shall Regional School District #15 appropriate $224,000,000 for the construction of two new elementary schools to replace Pomperaug Elementary School and Gainfield Elementary School, and authorize the issue of bonds and notes in the same amount to finance the appropriation; such borrowing authorization shall be reduced by grants received (currently estimated to be 64.2% of eligible costs)?”
Southbury: YES 1,935 / NO 1,172
Middlebury: YES 539 / NO 648
Combined: YES 2,474 / NO 1,820
“Shall the proposed 2026-2027 Budget of the Pomperaug Regional School District #15 in the amount of $95,639,220 be adopted?”
Southbury: YES 2,048 / NO 1,059
Middlebury: YES 631 / NO 559
Combined: YES 2,679 / NO 1,618
“Shall the Town of Southbury appropriate $25,403,146 for the
municipal budget and approve the Special Revenue Fund
appropriations for the fiscal year July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027?”
YES 2,115 / NO 983
“Shall the 2026-2027 proposed Town of Middlebury Municipal Budget in the amount of $13,985,958 be approved?”
YES 735 / NO 453
“Shall the Town of Middlebury appropriate $583,000 for 2026-2027 Pay-As-You-Go Infrastructure / Capital / Reserves from State Grants and Revenues?”
YES 774 / NO 403
By Evan Triantafilidis
The Southbury Record 