[A]s a bill that requires larger school systems works its way through the Legislature, a group of House lawmakers has formed a Small and Rural Schools Caucus to focus on issues that could affect their districts.
A bill crafted by the House Education Committee, H. 361, aims to reduce the number of school districts statewide by requiring larger Pre-K–Grade 12 school systems of at least 1,100 pupils, but does not call for the closing of small schools.
Small schools are defined by the Vermont Agency of Education as having fewer than 100 students. There are 55 districts with fewer than 100 students, said Jill Remick, spokeswoman for the Vermont Agency of Education.
The group has met three times in recent weeks, said Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-West Dover, who organized the caucus.
Meeting with Sibilia on Friday were Rep. Emily Long, D-Newfane, a member of the House Education Committee; Rep. Charles “Chip” Conquest, D-Wells River; and Rep. Constance Quimby, R-Concord. Other representatives have also been involved, Sibilia said.
In his region, Conquest said, several school systems are looking at ways to combine efforts.
“If we were going to do something different, what would make sense, particularly since change is likely to be coming one way or another?” Conquest said. “It makes sense to be proactive and decide what works best for us in that area.”
The Agency of Education has published a color-coded map that shows where partnerships between school districts make the most sense.
Sibilia calls it “The map of pain.”
Conquest said for schools in rural areas, “…Our first reaction is, ‘I’m not putting my kid on a bus for 45 minutes to an hour.’”
But sharing resources makes sense across larger systems, Conquest said.
“If we had a larger unit, we could more effectively use the resources, the teachers,” particularly for specialized programs such as art and music, as well as physical and occupational therapy for students in need, Conquest said.
In Concord, Quimby said, voters recently voted down the school budget, and a petition has come in seeking a vote on closing the high school.
Concord High has about 60 students, and the town pays tuition to allow students to attend other high schools, too, which has some townspeople upset, Quimby said. But other parents want more opportunities than the town high school can provide, she said.
Small schools grant
H.361 calls for the phase-out of some subsidies that have aided small schools and schools that are losing students, but that would not happen all at once, and schools that merge with others would keep those grants.
Long said the small schools grants are fully funded in the bill through 2020, and they will stay with those schools as long as a school is paying a bond, even if the school the grant is now attached to closes and has construction costs in a new larger school system.
Sibilia said the hope in H.361 is that “…With this collaboration … many small schools may be able to stay open,” and even become more viable.
Small schools, struggling towns
Sibilia is concerned about the legislation’s potential impact on small schools, especially those in areas that are economically distressed, such as Readsboro. She also does not believe that H.361 will address the inequity of educational opportunity for the state’s public school children.
“They literally have lost hundreds of jobs in the last couple of years around there,” said Sibilia, including many at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
“In towns like Readsboro, we’re not allowing them enough funding, even with the small schools grant,” said Sibilia, who added that the focus on small schools does not make sense financially, and is not where the big dollars are being spent in Vermont.
“It’s dying with the loss of these jobs,” Sibilia testified recently about Readsboro. “People don’t understand that that will be the end for this town if [the school closes].”
Rep. David Sharpe, D-Bristol, chair of the House Education Committee, suggested that Sibilia get the Agency of Education involved right away, “to meet with the people you can put together to think about what makes the most sense for those communities, and if there is a modification to H.361 that facilitates doing what makes the most sense.”
