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By Rep. Jim Harrison
As widely reported, the appointed school redistricting task force voted 8-3 to ignore the charge given to it by Act 73 and instead proposed a ten-year plan of voluntary school district mergers. Under Act 73, Vermont’s education reform law approved this past June, the task force was set up to come up with up to three school district maps for the state, each averaging 4,000 to 8,000 students. Following months of deliberations and public testimony, a majority of task force members disagreed with that directive and came up with their own voluntary plan.
To the critics of Act 73, which includes the two task force co-chairs, as well as another legislative member on the panel, who voted against the plan back in June, some may think that marks the end of education reform and consolidation efforts. As Mark Twain once said, “Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated,” the same may be true with the plan contained in Act 73.
The task force’s only role was to make recommendations back to the full legislature. It was always going to be up to the General Assembly as a whole, together with approval from the Governor, to come up with what the new school district maps were going to look like. And to that end, the Senate Education Committee has already embarked on some area meetings ahead of the 2026 session to gather its own information.
In addition to indicating the task force failed in its mission, Governor Scott even suggested the eight task force members that voted for the voluntary plan were OK with continuing ever increasing property tax rates.
And increasing property taxes is what may keep the legislature and Governor at the table looking at consolidation to reduce costs. With a total Vermont population, the size of a city like Boston, it is hard for some to justify the cost of 52 supervisory unions supporting 119 school districts. Many legislators heard voters last November, when double digit property tax increases were front of mind.
In defending their decision to propose a voluntary plan, task force members questioned what the savings might be if the state consolidated school districts and pointed out that they received much testimony opposing those efforts.
The 11-member task force included 5 appointed by the House Speaker (3 state representatives and 2 retired or former school officials), 5 appointed by the Senate Committee on Committees (3 senators and 2 retired or former school officials) and one appointed by the Governor (retired or former superintendent).
Senate Education Committee Meeting
Rutland High School
December 5, 2025, 2:30 PM – Public Comment
Room “Red 20” at RHS. Written testimony is welcome, please send via email to lindsey.schreier@vtleg.gov
In other news, the state budget deliberations will likely be in the spotlight in the coming session. The Joint Fiscal Committee held two meetings this fall, where they received information on some reductions in federal funding. Additionally, various nonprofit service agencies have shared information about their own reductions and have suggested the state offer help to fill the void.
In conjunction with building next year’s budget, the Scott administration is soliciting public comment through an online survey. More information can be found here.
Other News
The Wheels for Warmth program raised a record $115,000 to help Vermonters heat their homes last month. The program started by Governor Scott 20 years ago, collects tires from around the state which are then sold at two sale locations. In the Rutland region, Casella Construction in Pittsford hosted the sale. The program encourages Vermonters to donate tires they no longer need.
Congratulations to Lyle Jepson on his appointment as Vermont’s new Commissioner of Economic Development. Lyle was the executive director of the Chamber and Economic Development of the Rutland Region.
The author, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, serving Mendon, Pittsfield, Killington and Chittenden. He is vic-chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
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Categories: Commentary, Education
Question: Did anyone see just one constructive recommendation on education and property tax reform from Rep. Jim Harrison in this missive? While it’s not a direct recommendation, it is implied that the time for public comment is still front and center.
Senate Education Committee Meeting; Rutland High School – December 5, 2025, 2:30 PM – Written testimony is welcome, please send via email to lindsey.schreier@vtleg.gov
I hope everyone takes the opportunity to provide input. What follows is a copy of the email I submitted to the Senate Education Committee.
To the honorable members of the Senate Education Committee:
I live in Westminster, Vermont and am a former local school board director, Workforce Investment Board member, parent of children who attended our public school system, and have been a local employer for the last 45 years or so. Please consider the following point of view in your deliberations on Act 73 Education Reform.
The committee’s assumptions, listed in the 11-10-25 Task Force Draft Report, are incorrect. Specifically, consider the following clear example.
On Page 5 of the committee’s report:
“Markets won’t fix the problems that markets create. Markets serve more dense and higher wealth regions more effectively, at the expense of rural and more disadvantaged communities.”
On the contrary, Westminster’s experience contradicts the committee’s assumption. ‘Markets’ did not create the current demand for reform. In fact, markets (i.e., School Choice) are, demonstrably, far more effective at achieving economies of scale in rural and disadvantaged communities than a centralized one-size-fits-all governance. My Westminster School District provides a poignant comparison.
The Westminster School District is a K-8th grade program serving 164 students. The K-6th grade is a traditional public-school program with 125 students. In other words, the Westminster School District “maintains… one or more approved schools within the district in which elementary education for its resident students in kindergarten through grade six is provided.” 16 V.S.A. § 821
However, Westminster does not “maintain one or more approved high schools in which high school education is provided for its resident students”. Instead, Westminster provides for its 39 7th & 8th grade students ”… by paying tuition to a public high school, an approved independent high school, or an independent school meeting education quality standards, to be selected by the parents or guardians of the student, within or outside the State;”. 16 V.S.A. § 822
As the Senate Education Committee can see, Westminster provides the opportunity for us to compare both forms of governance – a traditional public-school program and a tuitioned school choice program, side by side, in the same “rural and disadvantaged community”.
Again, on Page 5 of the report, the Task Force assumed the following.
“Per AOE data, there is no observable cost advantage associated with private schools in VT. Per AOE data, on average statewide in FY24, tuition districts paid more per student tuitioned to a private school ($20,432) than to a public school ($18,476).
Here’s the actual data from the Westminster school district for FY 2025-26.
Again, the Westminster School district has 165 K-8 students and a $5,308,124 annual school budget. Quick math: that’s $32,170 per student.
Of those 165 K-8 students, 39 have the advantage of its 7th & 8th grade school choice tuitioning program. The budgeted tuition is $1,044,000 for all 39 students. Quick math: That’s $26,769 per tuitioned 7th & 8th grade student.
Of those 39 7th & 8th grade students, 8 attend independent schools, receiving $20,910 per student. Quick math: That’s a total annual tuition cost to the school district of $161,520 for our independent school students.
That leaves an $882,480 tuition cost for the remaining 31 students choosing public schools. Quick math: The public-school tuition is $28,467 per student.
Please compare the annual $20,910 per 7th & 8th grade tuitioned student costs for those students choosing independent schools to the annual $28,467 per student cost for Westminster’s 7th & 8th graders choosing public schools. Quick math: 7th & 8th grade Independent school tuition costs are 36% less than the 7th & 8th grade Public School tuition costs.
The Westminster School District experience has been consistent for decades. And the tuitioned school choice program has been the most popular program in the district – as indicated by the constant increase in enrollment in the 7th & 8th grade program.
Suffice it to say, the Task Force’s assumptions in this regard are not only misleading, they are incorrect. And the majority of other assumptions should be called into question too. For example, Special Education costs for Westminster’s tuitioned school choice 7th & 8th grades are consistently lower than the Special Education costs in our traditional public-school model.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my input. Again, as a former local school board director and Workforce Investment Board member, I’ve been following this issue, locally and statewide, for decades. If anything, making Vermont’s school choice tuitioning program available to all Vermont students is the first education reform The Education Committee should undertake. In that regard, I will be happy to address any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Jay Eshelman,
Westminster Vermont
Seeing how very little effort was made to zero on spending, which is the tailtwister for Vermonters’ wallets and their well being. The bulk of spending of course is salaries and programs. Maybe the next round should have more effort in those areas, as to what is really key to the childrens’ education. A real long hard look in the final analysis has to be on spending, for as an outsider looking in and one who has served in local government for many years, I can tell you there are many places to trim in budgets as big as school budgets are. AND, I am convinced that trimming in the coreect places with surgical tools, would bring about significant results. It is time we did exactly those things.
Re: “I am convinced that trimming in the coreect places with surgical tools, would bring about significant results. It is time we did exactly those things.”
And how do you propose we determine what those ‘correct places’ and ‘surgical tools’ are? And what if we disagree?
Jim, your opinion is always appreciated. I like hearing and reading different perspectives. That said it is a shame you NEVER link any articles from VDC in your newsletter. Your constituents deserve better.