Agency of Education details reorganization to strengthen leadership and elevate special education
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Summary
Secretary Zoe Saunders told the Student Education Committee the Agency has reorganized into new divisions — including Safe and Healthy Schools, grants management and a standalone special education division — aimed at improving compliance, operational effectiveness and statewide support for districts.
Secretary of Education Zoe Saunders told the Student Education Committee that the Agency of Education has reorganized its structure to provide stronger leadership, break down internal silos and better support districts across Vermont.
Saunders said the reorganization responds to signals from a 2024 U.S. Department of Education monitoring visit and extensive stakeholder input gathered during a statewide “listen and learn” tour. “We recognized that there were increasing demands on the agency to lead, and to provide transformative leadership and direction setting,” she said, describing a push to elevate both academic outcomes and operational efficiency.
Under the new structure, Saunders said the agency identified five strategic pillars: improving statewide academic performance; expanding college and career readiness; promoting safe and healthy schools; supporting operational effectiveness; and ensuring high‑quality special education delivery. The agency has elevated the former special education state director to a division director who sits on the secretary’s extended cabinet and said it is actively recruiting to fill that vacancy.
Saunders named several new and shifted units: a Safe and Healthy Schools division (to focus on culture, bullying/harassment prevention, incident coordination and facility conditions); a grants management team to increase grant utilization and reporting; a data management and analysis division (DMAD); and a dedicated assessment team moved under a new Strategy and Accountability division to better link assessment reporting to district support. She also identified a newly created director of special education finance and a deputy chief of academics post to oversee curriculum and special education alignment.
Saunders tied the organizational changes to both immediate operational goals and longer‑term service delivery: increased professional development for agency staff, a smoother compliance posture with federal law and a regionalized service model designed to put agency staff into communities rather than solely in Montpelier. On staffing she estimated roughly 15 vacancies within an authorized complement of about 185 positions and said many vacancies reflect reworked job descriptions and an active recruitment process.
The committee asked about legal jurisdiction over civil rights investigations and whether related work sits inside legal counsel; Saunders said civil rights complaints generally fall under the Human Rights Commission but that the agency has stood up functions within Safe and Healthy Schools to address hazing, harassment and bullying.
Saunders closed by offering regular field reviews, a superintendent update and an open house at the agency for committee members to meet subject matter experts. She said the changes are designed to align the agency’s staffing and work to priorities already codified in law and to improve the agency’s ability to support implementation of statewide education objectives.
