As Vermont grapples with education reform and rising property taxes, one partnership, among many in the Vermont Care Partners (VCP) network, is proving that innovation through collaboration can address both student mental health needs and affordability concerns in the Northeast Kingdom. This year, St. Johnsbury School District and Northeast Kingdom Human Services (NKHS), a Designated Agency (DA), started a pilot program – Catamount Community Connections (C3P) – a new program that demonstrates how effective school-DA partnerships can keep students in their community, improve outcomes, and generate cost savings for taxpayers.
The creation of C3P was intentional, achieved through partnership, and centered on the local community. After 18 months of collaborative development, the result is a program that embodies the kind of integrated partnership Success Beyond 6 was designed to create, where schools and mental health agencies combine their unique strengths to create something neither could accomplish alone.
In the C3P model, NKHS brings ownership and renovation of the facility, along with specialized mental health services rooted in trauma-informed, evidence-based approaches. Their Board-Certified Behavioral Analysts (BCBAs) and clinicians provide supervision and quality oversight that schools simply cannot replicate on their own. Additionally, NKHS enables the leveraging of federal Medicaid funding through Success Beyond 6, reducing costs and the local tax burden. St. Johnsbury School District contributes its special education expertise, individualized education programs, educational curriculum and instruction, and the vital connection to students’ home schools and community. Together, what’s created is an environment where students can access their education in the least restrictive setting, stay connected to their families and community, and ultimately work toward returning to their local public school – all while costing significantly less than traditional out-of-district placements.
C3P leverages Success Beyond 6, Vermont’s established framework for school-DA partnerships, which isn’t a new or untested concept, but rather an evolution of a proven model. Success Beyond 6 has been operating since December 1992 and was created specifically as a partnership between mental health, education, students, and families. By 2019, 77% of Vermont’s public schools participated in the program, which was designed from the beginning to be driven by local needs and responsive to local conditions.
The partnership model works for several interconnected reasons: Success Beyond 6 uses local education funds as a state match to draw down federal Medicaid dollars, so schools pay only a portion of the cost of each service while the federal government contributes the rest. Beyond financial mechanics, DAs provide mental health services including behavioral intervention, trauma treatment, and clinical supervision. State oversight through the Department of Mental Health (DMH) ensures adherence to quality standards and the measurement of outcomes throughout.
Vermont faces converging crises in student mental health and school affordability that require innovative, cost-effective solutions. The statistics driving the need for a program like C3P, paint a picture that would benefit from creative intervention.
- 34% of Vermont high school students report poor mental health – stress, anxiety, and depression – most of the time.
- Vermont ranks first nationally among students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for emotional disturbance, and over five percent of Vermont students with IEPs are placed in separate schools, more than double the national average of 2.4%.
- Schools across the state report that they lack the in-house capacity, staffing, and specialized resources to respond effectively to these growing needs.
The special education and budget pressures compound these challenges.
- Students with IEPs have increased from 17.9% to 19.6% between 2019 and 2024, while the four-year graduation rate for students with IEPs has fallen to just 67%, compared to 86% for students without IEPs.
- Property tax increases have reached as high as 18.5% in some districts, driven in part by the extraordinary costs of out-of-district placements and transportation.
These pressures are particularly acute in the Northeast Kingdom and serve as the catalyst for C3P’s creation.
Locally, the partnership with schools and NKHS has made both a financial and clinical difference. Students served through NKHS’s school-based programs have made significant progress in treatment.
The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) is a point-in-time assessment designed to help educators and mental health professionals understand both the challenges and strengths of each student within the SB6 program. It enables a student’s care team to evaluate key areas such as academic performance, attendance, peer and teacher relationships, and school behavior, identifying both needs and strengths.
An analysis of data from 2023 to the present for active SB6 students shows that 84% of NKHS school-based clients developed skills that reduced needs across one or more CANS domains.
The following data represent students who initially scored a high need and later dropped to a low need on their most recent assessment:
- 50% of students enhanced skills that increased academic persistence and engagement in learning.
- 75% of students demonstrated improvement in reducing tardiness and arriving at school/class on time.
- 75% of students improved skills that contributed to fewer school discipline issues.
- 53% of students with a high need score demonstrated improved attention skills, enabling them to stay focused more effectively.
In addition to clinical benefits for students, the partnership model can reduce costs for schools. Traditional out-of-district placements can cost up to $120,000 per year in specialized school tuition, with transportation adding up to another $100,000 per year per student. That’s up to $220,000 annually for a single student. Although not every student placement costs this much, out-of-district placements are more expensive than keeping students in their local communities. The C3P partnership model, by contrast, provides in-district alternative programming with integrated mental health support at significantly lower costs. The local placement eliminates long-distance transportation costs entirely, while Success Beyond 6 Medicaid funding provides a federal match, meaning schools pay only a portion of each dollar spent on services, with the federal government contributing the rest. Savings from this program, if expanded, could be significant.
Currently, the C3P pilot program serves fewer than 10 students, but over the next few years, it is hoped that the capacity will increase to 30. This has the potential to support students in their local community and save an estimated $1 million – $4 million in costs.
It’s important to emphasize that C3P doesn’t replace specialized independent therapeutic schools – Vermont needs those programs, too. Rather, C3P fills a critical middle ground: intensive enough for students with significant needs, local enough to maintain family and community connections, and cost-effective enough to be sustainable over the long term.
The St. Johnsbury School-NKHS partnership through C3P is more than just one program serving a small student group. It’s a proof-of-concept for how Vermont can address its dual challenges of student mental health needs and affordability pressures. It provides:
- specialized mental health expertise that schools need but cannot build alone,
- creates a pathway back to traditional school settings,
- directly addresses Vermont’s first-in-nation rates of emotional disturbance,
- leverages federal Medicaid match to reduce the local burden,
- creates local capacity that can serve multiple districts,
- generates measurable savings that benefit taxpayers directly.
Innovation happens through partnership rather than isolation and creates opportunity. The C3P model is a program that other regions across Vermont could replicate.
Vermont’s challenges are real. Student mental health needs are high, special education costs are rising, and property taxpayers are strained. Singular programs are not a silver bullet, but as C3P demonstrates, effective partnerships between schools and VCP network agencies offer an opportunity to solve some of the pressing needs facing the Vermont education system.
St. Johnsbury School District and NKHS have shown what’s possible when partners commit to working together, leverage established frameworks like Success Beyond 6, and innovate to meet local needs. This example points toward solutions that are both educationally sound and fiscally responsible. As Vermont considers education reform, the C3P model offers a critical reminder: some of our best solutions come not from choosing between quality and affordability, but from partnerships that deliver both.
More about NKHS
NKHS is a State of Vermont Designated Agency serving the Northeast Kingdom’s Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties. NKHS provides case management, community and home supports, residential care, psychiatry, medication management, individual therapy, group therapy, vocational supports, school-based counseling, emergency care, and respite services. NKHS also offers training and outreach services.
This article is part of a series, collaboratively produced by members of Vermont Care Partners, a statewide network of sixteen non-profit, community-based agencies providing mental health, substance use, and intellectual and developmental disability supports.
