Administration outlines sweeping education transformation: funding formula, five districts and tax changes

Secretary Zoe Saunders of the Vermont Agency of Education outlined Governor Phil Scott’s education transformation proposal Wednesday, Jan. 22, telling a joint legislative briefing the plan would replace Vermont’s current local-driven funding system with a state foundation formula, consolidate governance into five larger districts, and change how education property tax relief is delivered.

Saunders said the proposal aims to make school funding fairer and more predictable while expanding access to courses, services and teacher pay equity. “This plan is bold in its focus on rebuilding public education to better serve students,” she said, and argued the proposal would bring both educational improvements and property-tax relief.

The plan matters because Vermont faces declining enrollment, sizable achievement gaps and recurring budget failures that the administration says the existing governance and finance structure cannot address. Saunders told lawmakers the state serves 83,733 publicly funded students through 52 supervisory unions, 119 districts and…