Vermont Education Secretary Unveils Sweeping Plan to Transform K-12 System

Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders on Wednesday unveiled the administration’s sweeping plan to transform K-12 schools by changing how they are funded and consolidating dozens of  districts into just five, large regional ones.

Saunders laid out the proposal to members of the House and Senate during a nearly 50-minute briefing on the House floor. She told lawmakers that Gov. Phil Scott and his administration feel an urgency to create a “bold” plan to rebuild public education after voters rejected a third of school budgets last Town Meeting Day due to steep increases in property taxes. The worst part, she said, is that the lowest spending, highest needs districts struggled most to get taxpayers to approve their spending plans.

“We are left with a choice,” Saunders said. “We can either hold tight to our current system, which will result in less  for our kids while continuing to increase property taxes, or we can change. Vermonters have demanded change.”

The change would take three years.

Vermont would transition to a more straightforward school funding mechanism, known as a foundation formula, at the start of the 2026-2027 school year. The state would calculate a base amount needed to fund a student’s education. Additional funds would be allocated for students who cost more to educate, including  those living in poverty and English learners. The state is still figuring out what that base amount would be, with guidance from consultants, and will released the figures in the coming weeks, Saunders said.

Under the foundation formula, there would be a single statewide property tax rate with a discount for income-eligible homeowners, according to Tax Commissioner Craig Bolio. School districts could choose to raise additional funds above what is allocated through the foundation formula. But that amount would be capped to avoid large discrepancies in per-pupil spending between districts, Bolio said.

The second part of the plan calls for consolidating Vermont’s 52 supervisory unions and 119 school districts into five regional school districts, starting in the 2027-2028 school year. Each district would have one school board.

The proposed districts are the Champlain Valley Region, made up of schools in northwest Vermont; the Winooski Valley Region, in central Vermont; the Southwest Region; the Northeast Region; and the Southeast Region. The Champlain Valley Region would have around 34,000 students, while the other four districts would each have between 10,000 and 15,000 students.

This would allow the state to boost teacher salaries by reducing administrative costs, improve service delivery by operating at scale, and increase educational opportunities for students, Saunders said. In a nod to local control, each school would have an advisory council made up of parents, community members, students and staff that would help to inform school-level decisions.

Following the briefing, House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden-Central) issued a joint statement thanking the governor for bringing forward a plan.

“In the coming weeks, House and Senate committees will be hard at work digging into the Governor’s proposal and hearing from Vermonters, parents, educators, administrators, and students,” the statement reads. “The details matter and we need to get it right. Our kids, our schools, and our communities are counting on us.”

Don Tinney, president of the Vermont-NEA, had a less favorable reaction.

“Today’s risky proposal is big on rhetoric but short on the details,” Tinney said in a statement. “It doesn’t explain how these changes would be better for students. It doesn’t simplify an overly complex school funding system. And it doesn’t provide immediate and on-going property tax relief for middle-class Vermonters.”