Rural school alliance and superintendents urge caution on consolidation, call for Vermont‑specific study

Speakers for the Rural School Community Alliance (RSCA) and rural superintendents urged the House Ways & Means Committee to proceed cautiously on consolidating districts and on governance changes tied to a new foundation formula, and to ground design work in Vermont‑specific data.

Jeanne Albert, chair of the Lincoln School District Board and speaking for the Rural School Community Alliance, said the alliance represents dozens of towns and emphasized that consolidation research shows no consensus that mergers reduce costs in rural settings. "There is over a hundred years of research on the outcomes of school and district consolidation," she said, "yet there is no empirical consensus that consolidation results in reduced educational costs in rural areas." Albert told the…