Principal of large Vermont high school tells Senate consolidation can erode programs unless funding follows

Catherine Riley, interim principal of Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU), told the Vermont Senate Education Committee on Feb. 26, 2025, that the state should weigh the programmatic benefits of larger schools against potential funding losses from district consolidation proposals.

Riley told senators CVU’s district serves about 3,600 students and that CVU enrolls 1,269 students in grades 9–12, and described programmatic features she said are possible because of that scale: a broad roster of Advanced Placement and language classes, a ninth‑grade core and 10–12‑student advisories, an embedded Burlington Technical Center program for ninth and tenth graders, a midday “C3” period for clubs and supports, and place‑based programs the school calls Field and Forest. “I think an advantage to being a bigger school is, that you have more offerings,” Riley said.

Why it matters: the Senate is debating an administration plan to reduce Vermont’s supervisory unions and school districts. Proponents say larger districts permit specialized services and efficiency; opponents warn larger governance units can dilute local responsiveness and, if the state funding formula changes, force program cuts.

Riley described the district’s approach to measuring student learning beyond standardized tests: the district uses a set of “focus scores” that combine attendance, behavioral indicators, student surveys and proficiency measures. She said the school administers the surveys twice a year to track students’ sense of identity, belonging and direction, and that staff use those results to follow up with students who appear disengaged. “When our focus score says this kid’s not engaging, then we’re gonna sit down with that student and ask them why,” Riley said.

Riley also outlined staffing and class‑size norms at the high school: most classes average 20–25 students, with some larger science and math classes and smaller English classes, and the school has absorbed staffing reductions in recent years that she said have increased class sizes in some subjects. She described an embedded technical education pilot delivered by one teacher, David Dahl, who presently teaches cohorts of about 10 ninth graders and 10 tenth graders; prior years sent ninth graders for half‑day programs off campus.

Riley raised budgetary concerns tied to state policy changes discussed earlier in the hearing. She said the district just absorbed what she described as an “extremely painful” 1.2% budget increase and that the business manager warned a change to the foundation formula would add roughly 20% to the district’s budget — a calculation Riley said the Agency of Education (AOE) had, “more or less,” confirmed when the district consulted the agency. Riley said repeated, deep cuts reduce course offerings and extracurriculars and urged caution before another round of large structural changes that could trigger further reductions.

Riley emphasized that the school has prioritized building smaller communities within a large school — ninth‑grade cores and small advisories — to catch and support students who might otherwise fall under the radar. She pointed to student presentations her district hosted for the local board describing students’ budget‑related research and to clubs and extracurriculars, including a strong theater program and Amnesty International, as indicators of student engagement that standardized scores do not capture.

The testimony was delivered during the committee’s fact‑finding on district scale and governance; it did not produce a committee action. Senators and committee members asked follow‑up questions about athletics, course breadth, the ninth‑grade program and how the school tracks and re‑engages disengaged students.

Looking ahead, the committee said it will continue to gather testimony from schools of varying sizes to inform decisions about governance structure, the foundation formula and potential transitions. Riley said she would be willing to return for additional testimony if the committee requested it.