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Northeast Kingdom leaders tell Senate education panel rural reforms must fit micro‑rural districts
Summary
Superintendents and school board members from Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom urged the Senate Education Committee to account for outlier, micro‑rural districts when designing education reforms, citing tuitioning across state lines, limited pre‑K access, transportation gaps and lost federal CTE funds.
The Vermont Senate Education Committee heard testimony Feb. 20 from leaders in the Northeast Kingdom urging lawmakers to tailor statewide education reforms to the region’s “outlier” micro‑rural districts.
Sharon Ellywood, a member of the NEK Choice School Board District and the Essex North Supervisory Union board, told the committee that her district tuitioned roughly 300 students to 38 different schools and remains geographically isolated. “We have about 300 students in this big board, a big big board of a map, and we tuition them to 38 schools,” Ellywood said.
Why it matters: Committee members are weighing systemwide changes that assume larger, more centralized districts. Testifiers warned a single statewide approach could reduce local representation, complicate transportation and prekindergarten access, and cut funding for small but essential programs such as career and technical education (CTE).
Superintendent Sean McCann of the Kingdom School District said the Northeast Kingdom’s immediate priorities are housing, health care and coordinated planning. “Three significant needs in the NEK are housing, access to health care, and what I would call planning in response,” McCann said, noting that problems beyond schools—like housing affordability and flood response—affect schools’ ability to recruit staff and serve students.
Several presenters described tuitioning arrangements across the Vermont–New Hampshire border and the practical effects on families. Ellywood said some families drive children across the state line for high school and that tuition rates paid to receiving schools vary: “I believe we have a school in New Hampshire that’s around ... $26,000,” she said, while other receiving schools charge roughly $15,000.
Prekindergarten access was a repeated concern. Jennifer Losowitz, superintendent of the Essex North Supervisory Union, and Ellywood said state universal pre‑K funding and tracking systems (commonly referenced in testimony as the STARS system) do not follow some children born or enrolled out of state, which prevents those children from accessing Vermont pre‑K even when their older siblings attend Vermont schools. Ellywood warned, “These kids start behind the starting line if they can't have pre k.” Testimony estimated the number of children affected in these border towns at roughly seven to 10 per year.
Funding and small‑program challenges also drew attention. Testimony said some CTE programs in Canaan and neighboring towns recently lost Perkins funding because federal participation thresholds are not met by very small enrollments. A board member described the loss as “a significant amount of funding” for programs that supply essential local skills and volunteer services (for example, fire science training used by volunteer fire departments).
Panel members discussed potential mitigation strategies raised by testifiers: maintaining meaningful representation for small towns within larger governance structures, using pupil‑weighting and other formulas to protect tax equity, pursuing targeted bonds or state support for school construction, and expanding community‑school models. Ellywood and others asked legislators to coordinate across committees so education policy does not bear disproportionate responsibility for broader rural challenges.
On grants and immediate supports, witnesses said a community schools planning grant tied to Canaan was for about $120,000, with a larger program grant amount not specified during testimony. Committee members asked to receive the written pre‑K documentation and related data; Ellywood agreed to send supporting materials to a staff member the panel identified as Will.
The witnesses urged lawmakers to recognize geographic and demographic differences inside the Northeast Kingdom and to work with local leaders on tailored solutions rather than one‑size‑fits‑all mandates. The session closed with committee members thanking the speakers and asking staff to follow up on shared materials.
