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 produced consolidation: the agency reported forming about 50 new union or consolidated school districts between 2010 and 2020 and a net reduction of districts (the presentation cited a net reduction figure and several related counts). The AOE said roughly 63 percent of students live in a union school district created by those reforms and that a little over 84 percent of students now reside in union-style governance overall.

The presenters emphasized that local school boardss duties remain largely unchanged by consolidation: boards set local policy, hire and supervise the superintendent and set district vision and goals. By statute, the superintendent is the systems chief executive and is licensed; the agency reminded the committee that licensed educators may be subject to actions on their license for failing to follow law or regulation.

AOE staff described systemwide challenges the agency said are driving its strategic planning work: a top-heavy organizational footprint across many small districts that produces administrative redundancy and limits economies of scale; difficulty recruiting specialized staff such as special education directors; wide variability in locally produced curriculum and proficiency standards; a long-term enrollment decline the presenters said has exceeded 20 percent over 20 years; and financial pressure from rising costs and building portfolios that divert funds from instruction.

On data and operations, the AOE said Vermont suffers from "technical debt and infrastructure debt," with districts using different accounting and course-enrollment systems, some paper records still in use, and data systems that do not reliably interoperate. That mismatch, the agency said, increases validation work for both districts and AOE staff and constrains the agencys ability to provide targeted technical support.

Saunders said the agency has had "long standing compliance issues with the federal government" tied to special education delivery, parent engagement and other accountability measures; the presentation attributed these to complexity and capacity limits rather than lack of expertise. The AOE said it is increasing capacity in data infrastructure, finance and academic support, and has engaged consultants to assist comparative analysis with other states.

The agency described ongoing and planned work that it said would be shaped by a strategic plan: division-level planning to align core work to priorities; an operational plan for agency processes; immediate initiatives already launched (agency staff cited targeted supports such as literacy implementation tied to Act 139 and a program the presentation named informally in the hearing); and new positions to support academics and statewide professional development. Saunders said the agency would pair increased accountability with support and emphasized the goal of using data for continuous improvement rather than punitive measures.

Committee members asked about constitutional and statutory implications of potential governance changes, the size and timeline of multiyear strategic goals, comparisons with other states and the agencys capacity needs. Saunders replied that the agency is conducting a literature review and comparative work and is building the strategic and operational plans with an urgency that will still allow stakeholder input from educators and the legislature.

The presentation included multiple requests from educators for more centralized tools and regionally shared resources to reduce duplicated work, with several lawmakers noting both the potential gains and the political and logistical complexity of large-scale governance change.

No formal votes or motions were recorded in the hearing transcript; the record documents discussion, agency direction and committee questioning rather than any committee actions.

The AOE said its next step is to complete division planning and publish a strategic plan and an aligned operational plan, and to continue listening and refining priorities with educators, the legislature and federal partners.