Senate Education Committee reviews Act 46 consolidation law, its incentives and legal aftermath

Montpelier — The Senate Education Committee on Feb. 27 heard a high-level review of Act 46, the 2015 Vermont law that encouraged school-district mergers through incentives and directed the State Board of Education to create sustainable governance structures where local districts did not do so voluntarily.

Beth St. James, legislative counsel with the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee that Act 46 set goals including “substantial equity in the quality and variety of educational opportunities statewide,” improving operational efficiency and ensuring education is delivered at a cost “that parents, voters, and taxpayers value.” She said the statute explicitly stated the legislature did not intend to close small schools but to expand educational opportunities and economies of scale.

The law created preferred and alternative governance models and attached time-limited incentives to voluntary mergers. Under the preferred model a single school district would serve pre-K through grade 12, be its own supervisory union and meet a minimum average daily membership (ADM) threshold of 900. Alternative…