Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
House Education hears national overview of Educational Service Agencies; expert cites examples for Vermont
Summary
Joan Wade of the Association of Educational Service Agencies told the Vermont House Education Committee that ESAs — regional cooperatives known by names such as CESAs, BOCES and RESAs — exist in 44 states and can help rural and small districts save costs, expand services and implement state initiatives. Lawmakers asked about health-insurance savings and high-need special-education placements.
Joan Wade, executive director of the Association of Educational Service Agencies, told the Vermont House Committee on Education on Jan. 28 that Educational Service Agencies (ESAs) act as regional shared-service organizations that help local school districts access specialized staff, streamline compliance and implement statewide initiatives.
Wade said ESAs go by many names — CESAs, BOCES, IUs and RESAs — but “their goal is to help local school districts operate more efficiently, expand across the state to give expertise, and to implement state priorities in a cost effective and equitable manner.” She told the committee that ESAs appear in 44 states and that AESA has just under 500 members.
The presentation framed ESAs as an intermediary layer between local education agencies and state departments of education. Wade listed four common governance models — superintendent-led regional boards, regional boards of local school-board members, mixed boards and publicly elected regional boards — and said each model has trade-offs involving operational alignment, community…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
