State Board outlines five-part framework to identify schools "small by necessity" under Act 73
Summary
The State Board of Education presented a five-criteria framework to guide legislative or rule determinations about which small or sparsely populated schools qualify for supplemental funding under Act 73, emphasizing travel-time, safety, consolidation feasibility, demographic trajectory and fiscal impact.
The State Board of Education on Jan. 28 presented a recommended framework to the Legislature for deciding when a school that meets statutory size or sparsity thresholds should be deemed "small by necessity" and therefore eligible for supplemental state funding under Act 73. Jennifer Deck Samuelson, chair of the State Board of Education, introduced the board's vice chair, Tammy Colby, who led the presentation.
Colby said the board’s special committee — which met five times in 2025 and held a public listening session on Nov. 7, 2025 — produced a five-part set of criteria intended to distinguish schools that are small or sparse because of unavoidable geography or demographics from schools that are small for local policy reasons. "We defined ‘by necessity’ broadly as a condition driven by unavoidable demographic or geographic circumstances," Colby said, noting the board unanimously adopted the recommendations at its December meeting.
The proposed criteria are: average one-way travel-time thresholds (proposed averages: 45 minutes for elementary, 60 minutes for grades 7–12) or road-mile thresholds (10–15 miles depending on terrain); safe-transportation limitations (for example, unpaved roads, winter closures or single ingress/egress such as Lincoln Gap); lack of feasible consolidation options (nearby receiving schools without capacity, renovation costs exceeding savings, or tuition/transport costs that would create inequity or loss of special-education services); community population trajectory (projected census-block or town population that would remain too small to support consolidation); and whether closure/consolidation would create substantial increases in per-pupil costs for the district.
Colby said the thresholds were grounded in a review of other states' policies, research on travel-time impacts, and testimony from superintendents. She emphasized using averages for travel time rather than a hard per-student cutoff, because bus schedules and individual circumstances vary. The committee also conducted a mapping exercise — an Excel tool available on the State Board website — to estimate driving times and identify proximate schools, but Colby cautioned the mapping exercise did not include capacity, facility condition or staffing data.
On implementation, the committee recommended the Agency of Education be charged with determining which schools meet the criteria, with specific documentation requirements, data elements and timelines established in rule and incorporated into the Education Quality Standards (EQS). The board suggested annual designations aligned with district budgeting cycles so districts would have determinations in time for budget development.
Committee members and senators asked detailed questions about potential misclassification (for example, pre-K–12 campuses such as Canaan), data limitations (the AOE does not collect bus-time data), and how the framework would interact with the foundation formula and possible penalties. Colby said the committee’s spreadsheet makes the distance and travel-time calculations transparent, but the AOE or legislature would need to supply additional capacity and cost data to resolve some feasibility questions.
The presentation also opened a broader discussion about timing of related rulemaking. Board members noted that Act 73 sets certain class-size minimums to take effect on July 1, 2026, while the board’s formal rulemaking to define terms and implement EQS would not begin until after that date under the statute’s timeline. Jennifer Deck Samuelson and others urged legislative clarification or a delay to provide guidance to districts (options discussed included delaying rulemaking to August 2027 or 2028) so definitions ("class," "school," how averages are calculated) and guidance could be finalized before districts adopt budgets.
No formal legislative action was taken during the meeting; board members said their framework is intended to guide the Legislature’s drafting of any statutory definitions or to be adopted into rule at the board’s discretion. The State Board’s memo, exemplars of other states and the committee’s synthesis spreadsheet are available as attachments to the board’s materials.
