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 higher-performing districts "maintained strong and open lines of communication with the superintendent, staff, and one another" and shared findings from multiple sources to inform decisions.

Dr. Phil Gore, who participated in the Lighthouse study, said community engagement in governance — meaning community members, staff and families working with the board on vision, values and goals — is associated with improved student outcomes and narrowing achievement gaps. "When the community participates in these governance type activities together with the board, that's where we see student achievement and gaps in achievement more likely to be improving," Gore said.

Committee members and witnesses discussed tools the state has considered to preserve local input if districts are consolidated. The governor's proposal would reduce the number of districts substantially; VSBA suggested that policy tools in its brief could preserve local involvement without entirely uprooting the system, but emphasized that practical details need to be worked out for rural areas and places with infrastructure constraints.

The hearing addressed proposed school advisory councils (SACs) at every school as a way to retain local voice under fewer districts. Siblowski warned attendees that SACs often require central-office resources and sustained principal time to be effective, citing Philadelphia as an example where councils were established but struggled because of inconsistent bylaws, recruitment challenges and limited central support. She listed implementation questions the committee should resolve in advance: membership rules and selection method, officer roles, quorum definition, meeting agendas, conflict-of-interest rules, public-comment parameters and whether SAC meetings would be subject to the state's open meetings law.

Dr. Gore and other witnesses described the historical cycle of site-based councils nationally, noting those committees often devolve into operational discussions and can become populated primarily by staff when principals lack time to recruit and support authentic family or community participation. "Over time . . . you end up with a staff who happens to be a parent of a child in the school, or happens to serve in some other capacity in the community, and it just becomes stacked with nearly all and sometimes only staff people," Gore said, adding that such outcomes undercut the councils' intended governance role.

Committee members also pressed on board training. Siblowski said the VSBA provides monthly webinars, new-member training and an annual conference, and noted a statutory requirement that school board chairs complete eight hours of joint training with their superintendent. Dr. Gore said a majority of states require some level of board training but enforcement is weak; he also cautioned that simply increasing required hours does not guarantee helpful instruction, saying content matters more than quantity. He added that a survey of Idaho school board members found 76% supported some required training.

The VSBA described its internal governance regions and presented a state map used for discussion; Siblowski said the association has 11 regions with two board representatives from each region and that regions vary in FY24 ADM (average daily membership) from roughly 4,000 to 10,000 students, with Addison cited near 3,900 by the association.

No formal votes or committee actions were taken during the hearing. Witnesses and committee members repeatedly called for further data, modeling and stakeholder conversations — including with principals and teachers — before the committee advances any mandate on consolidation, advisory councils or statutory training requirements.

The VSBA told the committee it is willing to work with lawmakers to refine policy levers and model exceptions for rural or infrastructure-limited areas; staff said additional resources at both district and building levels would be necessary for any new structures such as SACs to function as intended.

The hearing continued with committee questions and follow-up requests for the VSBA and other associations to supply data and proposed statutory language.