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Advisory group presents options to address $6 billion in school deferred maintenance
Summary
The School Construction Advisory Group told the House Education Committee on Jan. 7, 2026, that rising construction costs and about $6 billion in deferred maintenance require policy direction before a school construction aid program can be designed; options include status quo debt assignment, a debt-service reimbursement model, or capped debt forgiveness (a $5 million-per-district proposal costing about $54 million).
Members of the School Construction Advisory Group told the Vermont House Education Committee on Jan. 7, 2026, that they have outlined several approaches to handling legacy school construction debt and need clear state policy to shape a new school construction-aid program.
"The 6,000,000,000 number that's been thrown around for deferred maintenance... every year that goes by, that's $240,000,000," said architect Dave Epstein, summarizing the committee's estimate of statewide facility needs and the cost of delaying repairs. Michael Gaughan, executive director of the Vermont Bond Bank, said rapid construction-cost inflation since 2020 has amplified those needs and affects the economics of any remedy.
The advisory group's report lays out three principal options. One is the status quo, in which a newly consolidated district would assume the debt of its predecessor districts—"we're simply…
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