In 2003, the Council on Education Governance examined Vermont’s education governance structures and met with local citizens who had been involved in community discussions about potential changes to their systems. We learned that many communities are concerned about the changing student population and increasing costs and are engaging with neighboring communities about the potential for sharing resources.

We found that people are thinking about a great variety of options ranging from a joint offering of a program to combining of school districts or supervisory unions. We learned that, in typical Vermont fashion, every community has a unique structure, and every consortium of communities is considering a unique solution to its problems. 

Vermont’s system is complicated because we value the ability to craft systems that fit each local situation. We wish to encourage each community to examine its own situation and craft a system that fits with consideration for the overall impact on the state and the delivery of a quality education to its students. Recognizing the importance of these local endeavors and the often prohibitive cost to have the conversation locally, we decided that our greatest contribution would be to find funding to help communities with this work.

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