Vermont school board group urges cautious approach to district consolidation, highlights training and community engagement

Sue Siblowski, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, and Dr. Phil Gore of the Idaho School Boards Association told the Vermont House Education Committee on Feb. 13 that decisions about district consolidation should be guided by data, preserve local accountability where feasible and prioritize board training and community engagement.

"We really appreciate the opportunity to discuss scale and governance with you today," Siblowski said, summarizing the VSBA's review of the governor's education transformation proposal and the association's policy brief.

The VSBA presentation framed the issue as a balance between efficiencies of scale and the benefits of local governance. Siblowski said the association's board reviewed its policy brief and concluded the "ideal number of school districts in Vermont lies somewhere between the current number of 119 and the governor's proposal of 5," and that the association supports using the brief's levers as a legislative framework provided further modeling and exceptions for geographic and infrastructure constraints are developed.

Presenters cited national research linking school board practices to district performance. Siblowski described the Iowa Lighthouse study and a meta-analysis by the Center on Public Education as the basis for a commonly used list of governance characteristics, noting that boards in…