Lawyer briefs senators on supervisory unions, school districts, BOCES and special-education funding

Elizabeth “Beth” St. James, an attorney with the Office of Legislative Council, told members of a legislative education briefing on Jan. 23, 2025, that state law currently vests certain administrative and funding responsibilities with supervisory unions and school districts and that recent and proposed changes — including a new BOCES structure and a 5‑district proposal floated by the administration — raise multiple legal and operational questions.

The presentation, described by St. James as “Governance 101,” explained that supervisory unions are administrative and planning units created by the State Board of Education that may encompass multiple school districts or a single district organized as a supervisory district. “Supervisory unions are the educational agency in the state that receives and disperses federal and state funds distributed by AOE,” St. James said. She listed supervisory-union duties in statute (for example, 16 V.S.A. §261a), including establishing union-wide curriculum, professional development, special-education services, procurement and construction management.

St. James emphasized differences between supervisory unions and school districts: school districts are municipal entities governed by elected boards that set district educational policy, manage district property, adopt budgets and may exercise taxing authority. “A school district has a similar ...…