by Don Keelan
Arlington Memorial High School in Arlington, Vermont, has existed since 1922. It now faces a huge potential problem: what to do with its display of 22 banners and 203 trophies and plaques? These were presented to the School’s athletic teams for winning State championships in basketball, soccer, track and field, snowboarding, baseball, and softball.
This problem arises because of what is being debated in Montpelier: how does the State control education spending? By addressing this topic, the closing of many elementary and secondary schools, school districts, and supervisory unions will be debated.
The Administration and the Legislature knew this sensitive topic had to be addressed once this year’s legislative session convened in January. Kicking the proverbial can down the road had come to an end. Most agreed there was no more road. Education spending was at a breaking point for many Vermont real estate taxpayers.
The Administration’s 176-page proposal addressing the problem is seismic: close all supervisory unions and 119 school districts. In its place, five geographic school districts will be created. Remove the right of a local district to close its school by moving such authority to the proposed arrangement.
The plan would also create local advisory boards to present their concerns to one of the proposed five districts.
The Legislature has its version of cost containment. One aspect is to eliminate any high school with less than 600 students and merge it with a neighboring high school. Its proposal would also make state funds no longer available to many of the state’s private schools, especially if public schools are nearby.
What does this mean for the ASD?
The district’s annual report for town meeting reported the following:
Grade Students
9th 23
10th 25
11th 34
12th 28
Total 110
110 make up approximately 28% of the district’s total student population of 398, including 43 Pre-K students. The Pre-K headcount was non-existent 25 years ago. However, what is noted above is no longer the way by which a school’s population is determined. Currently, there is the “weighted number of students.” According to an ASD official, the district’s population increases geometrically for State education funding purposes.
We cannot go back and change what allowed Vermont to reach this agonizing period of uncertainty for students, parents, school staff, faculty, and the greater community. However, it might be worthwhile to do so.
Vermont has lost over 30,000 students since ACT 60 was adopted in the 1990s. Year after year, the State loses more and more of its younger population to out-migration. The State lacks housing, and what is available is no longer affordable.
Another major factor, and one not discussed, is how the State’s financial resources were, over time, moved to fund numerous social programs and away from funding education and the infrastructure required to build market-rate housing.
The funding crisis is now at our door. The solutions, whatever they might come to be, will be messy, chaotic, and upsetting to many. For so many Vermont towns and villages, the local school represents the heart and soul of the community; it is the social and cultural center and the basis for a town’s economic well-being.
Over the last several decades, attention has been paid to all that makes Vermont beautiful, especially for its visitors, at the state level. Also, a transforming event has occurred in our school. They no longer just educated our children; they also took on a new role of raising them.
On a local level, twenty-five years ago, Arlington was aware of the potential loss of half its student population. Young families could not live here, and there was little housing, partly because of a lack of wastewater infrastructure. And what housing was available was unaffordable.
The AMHS will not soon close. On March 20, 2025, the Legislature extended the proverbial road; the closing issue will be assigned to committees for further study. The banners and trophies can stay where they are. For now.
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.