by Jack Hoffman, Senior Analyst, Public Assets Institute The Act 73 Redistricting Task Force wrapped up their work today, and they’ve given the state a chance to rethink the course of education reform it has been pursuing for the last decade. Vermont communities, as well as elected leaders, should seize this opportunity to get us out of the ditch we’ve been in and refocus on what should be our priority: ensuring our kids have what they need to thrive.
The 168-page draft proposal from the November 10th meeting of the Task Force had a lot to digest. And it requires close reading because the proposal offers much more nuanced analyses of problems confronting the education system than we’ve seen from the administration or the Legislature in recent years. The Task Force also put out a more streamlined draft report (see executive summary below) today along with an explanation of the changes.
One of the group’s most important recommendations is to stop further forced consolidation of school districts, which fits with one of the Task Force’s guiding principles: Do no harm. It’s not that the committee opposes mergers. It recommends voluntary consolidation for some districts in certain circumstances, which was the state’s policy before passage of Act 46 a decade ago.
Like all recent education reform plans, the Redistricting Task Force focused on costs. But it didn’t offer the usual we-have-to-do-something-about-Vermont’s-skyrocketing-education-spending refrain, which has pitted the administration and the Legislature against local school officials for too long. Instead of demanding that school districts curb their spending, the Task Force suggested a process in which districts collaborate, with lots of support and help from the Agency of Education, to find ways to save money.
The report includes examples of potential cost savings, and none of them appear to require an overhaul of the education financing system. For example, the Task Force pointed to areas where public schools have seen a rise in per pupil spending because they’ve lost students to independent schools. (School taxes are tied to per-pupil costs, so a decline in students can drive up taxes.) Fixing this would require changes to how we pay for tuition students, which is not addressed in Act 73.
The proposal also pushed back against some of the conventional wisdom that has grown up around Vermont’s education system, like the idea that larger schools are more efficient and produce better outcomes than smaller ones, or that small schools need to close because it’s the small communities that are losing students.
The report referenced other cost drivers, but not in much detail because they were beyond the scope of the committee’s mission. They deserve mention, though, because they go to the heart of perhaps the most consistent complaint about Vermont’s funding system: per pupil spending.
Vermont spends more than most other states and has for a long time. In recent years, the cost of health care—especially mental health care—has been a big factor. But that’s a problem for many businesses and individuals in Vermont, not the fault of the school funding system. The Task Force also noted that Vermont spends a bigger share of its education budget on social services than neighboring states. That’s in part because other states pay for services through the general state budget—and perhaps through county budgets in some cases—that Vermont covers through the Education Fund. Moving costs from the Education Fund to the General Fund wouldn’t eliminate them, but it would relieve pressure on education property taxes—and lower Vermont’s average per pupil spending.
Vermont saw an unusual jump in education spending and school taxes in fiscal 2025, which set off the current scramble to remake the state’s education funding system. But some homeowners are getting hit with tax increases not tied to spending increases. There are ways to address those jumps and make the tax system fairer without the disruption of more consolidation or upending the entire system. But that, too, was beyond the scope of the Task Force’s mission and can be addressed separately.
What the Redistricting Task Force has laid out is a more nuanced approach that has a better chance of gaining public acceptance than something imposed by Montpelier. It will require addressing a lot of specific problems rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. And it offers greater opportunity for local community engagement, which is critical to making any change work. At a time when democracy is under threat across the country, it makes sense to protect and preserve it here at home—for our communities and our kids.
Redistricting Task Force Legislative Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Vermont is confronting a set of structural challenges in its public education system: declining enrollment, rising costs, persistent inequities in access to programs, and a governance structure that makes regional coordination difficult. Act 73 was passed to respond to these pressures, directing the School District Redistricting Task Force to examine statewide consolidation options and propose new district configurations intended to improve equity, quality, and fiscal sustainability.
Over four months, the Task Force conducted a rigorous, data-driven review of Vermont’s educational landscape, drawing on statewide fiscal and enrollment data, research from comparable rural states, public input from more than 5,000 Vermonters, and extensive deliberation among members. The Task Force did not find evidence that large, forced mergers of the scale contemplated in Act 73 would reliably lower costs, improve educational outcomes, or expand equity. Instead, the evidence pointed toward targeted, regional approaches that strengthen opportunity while respecting Vermont’s rural geography, community identity, and limited statewide capacity for major structural change.
To follow the evidence and act with integrity, the Task Force recommends a phased roadmap that advances three complementary strategies:
1. Cooperative Education Service Areas (CESAs) Regional shared-service structures for special education, transportation coordination, staffing, purchasing, data systems, and other high-cost, low-scale areas that small districts cannot efficiently manage alone. Research from states with similar geography shows that cooperative services improve access and reduce duplication far more effectively than consolidation.
2. Strategic Voluntary Mergers Mergers pursued only where communities identify a shared educational purpose and where feasibility studies show clear value. This approach avoids arbitrary size targets (e.g., 4,000–8,000 ADM) and instead emphasizes educational benefit, community priorities, and fiscal sustainability.
3. Comprehensive Regional High Schools Regionally governed high schools designed to expand student opportunity—advanced coursework, world languages, technical education, mental health services, and extracurricular access—especially in small or rural districts that cannot sustainably provide these offerings alone.
The data reviewed by the Task Force consistently showed that Vermont’s largest cost drivers—health care, special education, facilities, transportation, and agency capacity—are not solved by district size. Regional coordination, shared staffing, and well-planned high school collaborations address these drivers more effectively than mandated structural change. Public input underscored this conclusion. Vermonters expressed strong concerns about student wellbeing, loss of local control, transportation burdens, rural equity, and a process perceived as rushed or unclear. At the same time, they showed broad support for improving quality and expanding equitable access through collaboration rather than coercion.
The roadmap recommended by the Task Force provides:
● Immediate gains through shared services
● Long-term improvements through voluntary, community-driven mergers and regional high schools
● Protection of local identity alongside improved statewide coherence
● A feasible implementation path aligned with Vermont’s geography, capacity, and public sentiment This approach does not reject the goals of Act 73 — it advances them in a way that is realistic, evidence-based, and responsive to the voices of Vermont communities.
PAI: Seize the opportunity for a second chance on school reform https://publicassets.org/
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