Vermont education leaders outline governance complexity, data and staffing shortfalls as agency crafts strategic plan

Vermonts state education leaders told a joint Senate and House Education Committee on an ongoing hearing that the state's governance structure remains complex and that the Agency of Education (AOE) is developing a strategic plan to address staffing, data and compliance shortfalls.

Billy Saunders, secretary of education, said he would "start by giving you an overview of the current governance structure" before moving into where the agency sees system issues and priorities for a future state. Saunders and AOE staff outlined recent consolidation efforts, workforce and scale problems, inconsistent local standards, aging data infrastructure, and lingering federal compliance issues.

The agency described the post-2010 policy push that encouraged district mergers, citing legislative actions the presentation identified as Act 1/Act 153, Act 156 and Act 46. The AOE said those reforms reduced the number of local districts and created larger union districts and supervisory unions that now perform many centralized functions, including special education and food services. Agency presenters reported there are 51 supervisory unions or supervisory districts, 118 individual school districts, about 287 public schools and just over 80,000 public school students in Vermont.

Saunders and interim deputy secretary Jill Briggs Campbell said the measures…