Vermont Business Magazine School districts in Orange, Addison, Rutland, and Franklin Counties voted to consolidatedistrictgovernanceon Town Meeting Day. The districts are Addison Northwest, Addison Central, Franklin Central, Orange Southwest, and Rutland South, all by comfortable margins. Governor Peter Shumlin has pushed for school district consolidation under Act 46 as a means to reduce educational costs and increase academic opportunity. Shumlin issued the following statement following the Town Meeting Day results.
“I’m proud of these communities and their school boards for their hard work to chart a course that will lead to a higher qualitypubliceducationsystem," Shumlin said. "These largerdistrictswill be able to provide more stability and support for their small, local schools.Under Act 46 to date, 35 communities, representing 40 school districts, have voted to streamline themselves into nine unified districts so that they canenhance educational quality and reduce administrative costs. With about 70 percent of all Vermont students living in a community that is either moving forward with a merger or having conversation about doing so, it is clear that Act 46 is working.
“One year ago these important conversations were not happening. Today they are because of Act 46, not despite it. The law has sparked communities around Vermont to have conversations about the future of their kids’ education and how to make it better. Those conversations are necessary because Vermont has over 20,000 fewer students than we did ten years ago. Until now solutions to that problem have been elusive. I am proud that Vermont is moving forward with reforming our education system so it reflects the reality of our student count and meets the needs of our kids.”