Act 46 (formerly H. 361) Education Funding, Education Spending & Education Governance

Enacted during the 2015 session, Act 46 is "intended to move the State toward sustainable models of education governance" (Report of the Committee of Conference). Its premise is that the cost of education can be reduced, and its quality improved, by reducing the number of local school districts by consolidation.  Governance would pass from multiple local boards to smaller, less numerous district boards, though individual schools might keep a local group in an advisory capacity only.

The structures favored by provisions of the Act would provide education for resident Pre-K through 12 students in consolidated "Education Districts" that each serve a minimum of 900 students (Average Daily Membership, or ADM).  (In FY14, Craftbury's official ADM was 144.45). The state envisions four possible structures for these new Education Districts:

1. The District operates its own Pre-K and K-12 schools (as Craftsbury does now)
2. The District operates its own Pre-K and K-8 schools, and tuitions its high school students to another district
3. The District operates its own Pre-K and K-6 schools and tuitions students in grades 7 though 12
4. The District tuitions all its resident Pre-K through 12 students.

The Act acknowledges that these structures may be neither possible nor optimal to achieve goals in every part of Vermont, and agrees to consider Alternatives. An Alternative might include structuring a Supervisory Union with member districts (as we have now) if the SU meets certain criteria (for example, the target ADM of 900 students).

Prior Efforts to Merge

• Craftsbury participated for three years in the OSSU Voluntary Merger Study Committee, concluding in 2014 that merger was not feasible for the participating districts at that time. (Report & Recommendation, July 2014)
• This academic article from the Journal of Research in Rural Education chronicles a broader range of Vermont's early experiences with school district mergers under Act 153/156 (2010 - 2012), contains lessons for us in this new phase, and includes pointers to loads of other useful references.

A New Study Group

In September 2015, Craftsbury's School Board voted to be participants in a discussion group forming with representatives from other OSSU boards. Jen Marckres will represent us there. Meanwhile informal conversations continue with towns outside the supervisory union.

Information Compiled by OSSU

The OSSU Central Office has made available to the district school boards  a large set of documents and materials about Act 46. Here, see the OSSU collection of Act 46 documents. (There may be some overlap with the State collection.)

Information Compiled by Vermont Agency of Education

• Details about the State's intentions, the kinds of mergers it envisions and the incentives available to communities that move forward soon are available through its Act 46 Unification page.  (There may be some overlap with the OSSU collection.)
• This brief outlines a process that preserves the sense of community as a district explores possible new partnerships.

District Maps

• A state map showing school district and supervisory union boundaries, current as of 10/1/2015.
  
• Another map shows which towns have school choice, and for which grades.

Act 46 on YouTube

In many Vermont communities, study groups, public fora and other meetings about Act 46 have been video taped.  This YouTube playlist tries to pull all of these videos together in one place for you to browse through. It's not very well organized but it's a start.

Act 46 News

Tweets by @Act46News

School Assessment, Population and Fiscal Performance Data

The state makes available testing results and  the population and fiscal data it gathers about Vermont school districts.  Also, the website city-data.com presents a statistical profile of Craftsbury culled from several different sources. These data are useful as we begin to consider whether it is in our students' interest to partner with others, and who might be a good fit with us.

Process

The advice your Board hears has pretty uniformly stressed that community values always end up driving the conversation in large and small ways. It is critical that, together, we clearly articulate these values, so that when the time comes to vote on a way forward we share an understanding of the choices leading to whatever proposal is before us. Toward that end, we urge you, personally, to participate: please come to our monthly meetings, and please attend community forums we sponsor.

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This is the site for the Craftsbury School Board. If you are looking for day-to-day information about school, check the Craftsbury Schools Website.