Vermont educators warn start-up rules and limited Agency of Education capacity threaten regional BOCES

House Committee on Education members heard testimony Jan. 31, 2025, that Vermont’s law to create regional boards of cooperative educational services (H.630) lacks the implementation supports and upfront funding needed for districts to form effective BOCES-style cooperatives. Sherry Souza, Mountain View Supervisory Union superintendent, and Jill Graham, executive director of the Vermont Learning Collaborative (VTLC), told the committee that the state Agency of Education (AOE) does not yet have the capacity to review and approve articles of agreement and to support new cooperatives statewide.

Why it matters: Witnesses said BOCES could help contain special-education costs, keep students closer to home and expand access to specialized programming and professional development, but Vermont districts lack the funding, governance expertise and interdistrict trust to complete the required articles of agreement under current statute.

Souza told the committee she and VTLC staff drafted articles of agreement and submitted them to AOE, only to find that "the lack of expertise and infrastructure to meet the expectations of this law" is blocking progress. She said the statutory process assumes districts can…