Erie superintendent urges Vermont committee to use GIS and data-driven process for school redistricting

Jay Adams, superintendent of SAU 70 (Hanover and Norwich), told the Vermont House Education Committee on Feb. 14 that lawmakers should base any school redistricting or consolidation on detailed, GIS-mapped student and facilities data rather than quick redraws.

Adams, who described leading a yearlong, public redistricting process in Erie, Pennsylvania, said the public will accept difficult decisions if they are grounded in clear data and accompanied by transparent community engagement.

The governor has proposed larger regional districts — including a five-district plan discussed by lawmakers — and Adams framed GIS mapping and multi-step planning as tools to assess where schools should be located, how services could be shared and where consolidation might be unavoidable to sustain educational equity and budgets.

Adams summarized Erie’s fiscal crisis after he became superintendent in 2010: a roughly $26 million cumulative shortfall within a $180 million budget, declining enrollment and structural funding problems that required cutting more than 300 positions. “Seventy percent of your budget is staff. And so we had to eliminate more than 300 positions,” he said, adding that leadership started with central office…