By Guy Page
The history of Vermont school consolidation over the last 15 years show that consolidation alone won’t reduce Vermont’s out-of-control school spending, the Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) told the Act 73 Task Force in a letter this week.
Instead, Vermont should reduce spending “through shared services between school districts and staffing reductions while avoiding the removal of local school boards and their community ties,” CFV said. The CFV is a non-partisan citizens’ group focused on Vermont affordability and prosperity.
This year’s Act 73 created the School District Redistricting Task Force, which began work August 1. will begin that work. “Having bigger districts, and fewer superintendent offices, is critical to getting more of the money we invest in education to be spent on our kids in their classrooms,” said Amanda Wheeler, spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott.
CFV doesn’t share the governor’s and Legislature’s faith in savings through consolidation, saying so in a letter sent earlier this week to the Act 73 Task Force, identifying some of the pitfalls of Act 46 (the previous consolidation effort) and offering research-backed suggestions on how to avoid making the similar mistakes.
“Many of the same conversations happening today are a mirror image of conversations policymakers were having a decade ago when Act 46 was being formed,” said CFV Executive Director Ben Kinsley, “we have enough data now to know what did not work with Act 46 and we should learn from that.”
Since 2010 Vermont has consolidated from 271 school districts down to the current 119. Act 73 contemplates further consolidation down to 10-20 regional school boards. At the same time, spending has accelerated to the point that Vermont now spends 79% more than the national average and outcomes have been declining since this latest consolidation effort. Yet Vermont students now rank below average for performance.
Apart from the educational flaws of consolidation, closing local schools will fray the community’s social fabric, Kinsley said: “Vermont’s schools serve as community hubs. Severing local control risks weakening these connections.”
Agendas, membership and contact information for the redistricting task force may be seen here.