State education officials and senators debate timeline, costs and small-school impacts of proposed foundation funding formula

Zoe Saunders, secretary of education, told the Vermont Senate Education Committee that "There is a consensus around the intent to move to an evidence based foundation formula that is supportive of high quality education equity." The committee spent more than an hour probing the proposal's timeline, fiscal bridge plans and implications for small schools and special programs.

Saunders and agency staff said the governor's plan would move Vermont from a tax‑capacity approach to an evidence‑based foundation formula, with a multiyear transition and a planning/bridge period. "The governor's proposal does not set minimum enrollment for elementary schools," Saunders said, adding the administration used 450 students as a point of efficiency in modeling but did not intend that figure to be a required minimum.

Committee members and agency leaders identified three core policy levers that link funding to outcomes: funding formula design, governance and district size, and measures of education quality. The administration said its model carries the existing school portfolio in year one, applies size adjustments (in the presentation, school‑size adjustments…