Vermont School Consolidaiton

How Consolidation is Affecting Vermont

Vermont is now facing a state consolidation issue of their own. In 2006, Vermont Education Commissioner, Richard Cate developed a proposal to eliminate supervisory unions and reducing the number of school districts from 280 to 58. He would then create school boards to oversea the districts. Today, Vermont Education Commissioner, Vilaseca agrees that consolidation is going to save the state millions of dollars. He stated to the Times Argus in March 2012 that lowering the number of districts to 50 or fewer could save the state $15 million to $17 million dollars in the 2012 fiscal year  

With 74% of Vermont’s schools being classified as “rural, “ Vermonters will continue to be faced with consolidation efforts from their legislature with enrollment dropping and taxes rising(15). In 2010, Vermont legislature passed Act 153, which is Voluntary School District Merger Incentive. According to the Vermont State Department of Education, Vermont’s enrollment is approximately 90,000 students. This is a drop in numbers from a survey done in 1997, which estimated the enrollment to be over 106,000. 

Act 153, proposes schools to form “regional educational districts, ” otherwise known as RED's, that will be supervised by one school board with one school budget, one curriculum, shared resources and one teachers’ contract.

Here is the link to Lamoille County's RED Committee's Website 
This website updates community members on meetings, surveys and upcoming plans

http://www.lamoillesouthred.org/

Vermont Public Radio reports about the struggle consolidation causes between community and state legislature

take a listen....

http://www.vpr.net/flash/audio_player/audio_player.php?id=37829



If communities decide consolidation is a good option for them, they are entitled to certain tax and monetary incentives. Another consideration involved in Vermont’s consolidation efforts is the quality of education. The way schools are currently set up, Vermont schools are outperforming other states in the nation. Vermont’s graduation rate (84%) exceeds the national average (Rural School and Community Trust, 2012) and our National Assessment of Educational Progress scores in reading and math are some of the most highly ranked in the country. (Rural School and Community Trust, 2012) Vermont’s NAEP reading score is around 272, with the US average coming in at 264.  According to a US News and World Report that reviewed nationwide 21,776 U.S. public high schools; 15 of Vermont high schools made top rankings