Students Tell Vermont Lawmakers to Protect DEI, Student Voice and Small Schools in H.454 Debate

Students from across Vermont told a joint session of the House and Senate Education Committees on April 25 that proposed changes in the state’s school structure could harm small schools, reduce student voice and undermine diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Jacoby Soter, an 11th‑grade student at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans, told the committee: "Students must be seen as real agents of change." He urged lawmakers to require “student representatives as valued and voting members” of local school boards and to include young people meaningfully in policy design.

The testimony combined several recurring themes: support for local, small‑school communities and the relationships they foster; concern that Bill H.454 (the governor’s school consolidation proposal) would cut teacher positions and close small schools; calls to protect DEI programs and affinity spaces; and requests for more investments in teacher professional development, mental‑health supports and services for unhoused students.

Lila Zeitlin, a Woodstock Union High School student and co‑president of her school’s Social Action Club, said the consolidation plan “is financially motivated to excess” and warned that savings achieved by cutting staff could disproportionately harm low‑income students. She and multiple other witnesses described long bus rides — in one testimony “upwards of 3 hours per day” — and said consolidation would worsen transportation burdens that correlate with absenteeism.

Students who represented DEI organizations and school affinity groups said those programs provide essential support. Louie Martez, speaking for the Vermont Students Against Racism Network and Woodstock’s Social Action Club, urged the legislature to “pass legislation [to] cement protections for DEI programs in schools.” Several other student speakers, including Nicole Richie Asimwe and Irina (a youth organizer with Outright Vermont), described personal experiences in which DEI coordinators and affinity spaces provided safety and concrete help.

Other students described benefits of small class sizes and local control. Multiple witnesses — from Craftsbury Academy, Sharon Academy and Montpelier High School among others — said small schools allow teachers to know students individually and offer opportunities that might disappear under consolidation. Orion Hart of Craftsbury said the school’s “smaller community also gives each and every student a chance to be seen.”

Not all testimony focused on DEI and consolidation. Some students raised programmatic and resource concerns: Max (Lake Region Union High School) detailed differences in per‑pupil spending among districts and questioned how savings would be used if staff reductions and increased budgets occur simultaneously. Eddie McGrath of Montpelier High School urged legislators to consider mobile‑phone policies carefully, noting safety and communication tradeoffs, and also asked for stronger supports for homeless teenagers.

Committee members and sponsors were present throughout; the chairs thanked students and noted that written testimony submitted would be posted on the House Education Committee site. Senators and representatives encouraged students to contact their legislators and emphasized that the committee will receive additional written submissions.

Why it matters: Bill H.454 and related proposals would restructure how some Vermont districts are organized and funded. Students told lawmakers that the human effects — teacher layoffs, longer bus routes, loss of locally tailored DEI and equity work, and fewer small‑school opportunities — could outweigh the fiscal benefits lawmakers seek. The session provided lawmakers with dozens of first‑hand accounts that committee members said they would include in the legislative record.