The Vermont Rural School Community Alliance
Education Transformation Platform
We believe that the Vermont Legislature should seek a balanced response to this question:
How can Vermont provide an excellent public education system that prepares children for success, supports families and thriving communities, and is delivered at a cost hardworking Vermonters can afford?
Our platform provides recommendations based on current tax realities and in response to plans being presented by Governor Scott and the legislature in hopes of answering this question. Our platform contains five guiding principles around these topics:
Educating young students.
Elementary-aged children should be educated close to home. We support Vermont public schools of all sizes. Elementary schools are a fundamental element to a thriving community.
Opportunities for older kids.
Older students tend to be able to travel longer distances, are ready developmentally to thrive amidst larger peer groups, and can take advantage of increased program choices and expanded extracurricular activities in larger regional schools.
Keeping schools open.
Closing schools is not necessarily the fix for Vermont’s problems – and could create damaging new ones. Research shows no consistent correlation between cost and quality in relation to size, and closing schools frequently fails to produce the savings anticipated after factoring in resulting increases in costs, such as transportation.
School governance.
School Governance should be a partnership between districts and state.
State standards and accountability are important. School districts welcome clear expectations, rules, guidance, and accountability. Democratically elected local School boards are an asset, they add value to Vermont’s Education system at little cost.
Funding reform.
Funding reform should center on equity and fairness, while strengthening Vermont communities. We need an education funding system that provides immediate tax relief to low- and middle-income Vermonters and distributes education funds equitably, while strengthening high quality education across the state.
Latest News
Passage of H955/Act 180 – June, 2026
Had the governor’s plan become law we wouldn’t be writing an update today; a map would have been imposed. All current school districts would have been dissolved and distant school boards elected by ward would be in place. Oversight and decision making on schooling in Vermont would have become radically centralized.
This RSCA has contributed to supporting FOUR big achievements.
- CESAs Collaborative Education Service Areas will be established. They will be directly focused on cost savings through economies of SCALE while improving services to students.
- TIME – 3 years to discuss and decide on changes IF they demonstrate cost savings and opportunity for students while allowing for creative solutions to enrollment decline.
- VOTES – Changes will be decided by binding votes of the electorate. Local democracy – a Vermont strength – has an important place in decisions made moving forward. Local responsibility and decision making is a central part of the next steps.. This is the opposite of a centralized system.
- NO FORCED MERGERS – There are no forced mergers in the legislation..
Additionally, we made inroads in 2 other areas. However, those inroads did not change the trajectory of the final legislation. Work remains on these for the future.
- Community based schooling vs regional schooling. Early on our consistent statement “ Young children should go to school close to home”. Changed the approach from the regional schools at all levels in the governor’s plan to “local elementary schools, central middle schools and regional high schools.” We emphasized and will continue to emphasize the important in Vermont of community based schooling.
- School District Consolidation as the answer to Vermont’s issues. We presented clear national research and Vermont data showing mixed or negative results of consolidation to produce savings. However, nothing deterred the expectation on the part of many legislators of both parties that consolidation is the right solution. There remains a bias toward consolidation amongst many legislators which has little basis in fact. Continued work is needed to demonstrate with evidence that this approach is misguided.
Moving forward.
Over the past 2 legislative sessions and the work of the redistricting taskforce RSCA has been actively engaged Now it is over to Vermonters, particularly those serving in study committees. Our efforts moving forward will be to provide research and information along with strategies to approach the study committee work.
Act 170/H955 Frequently Asked Questions June 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rUeMPm_4Wk3Z6ieVb2bwx1E8giYwtapm/view?usp=sharing
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About the Vermont Rural School Community Alliance
The Vermont Rural School Community Alliance is a coalition of educators, parents, and community members dedicated to advocating for equitable, high-quality public education in Vermont. School boards, select boards, parents and other groups in 100 Vermont towns have joined the Alliance. The RSCA’s work is informed by direct experience in Vermont schools and leading research in rural education.