BRATTLEBORO-A committee tasked with recommending possible mergers among six southern Vermont school districts deferred a decision on how to allocate votes between different-sized districts based on their student populations.
The Group 5 merger committee, meeting for the first time on Oct. 7, tabled a vote on how to fulfill a proportional representation requirement under Act 170, the 2026 education reform law, because some members were absent.
The law requires the seven study committees statewide to align the number of members or votes with the student populations of their school districts. Proportional representation means larger districts will receive a greater share of the votes. That has worried smaller districts like Twin Valley School District that their own wishes will be neglected in favor of those of larger districts.
The committee asked regional facilitator Dana Brown to present different representation models at its next meeting.
Brown said the committee can increase its membership to reflect the school districts’ average daily student numbers, or keep the membership at six and weight members’ votes according to the districts’ student populations.
The merger talks are the first stage in exploring possible district consolidation as the state looks for ways of curbing the soaring cost of public education amid rising property taxes and declining school enrollment.
“I think whatever we decide to do, no one district should be able to outvote the rest of us,” said Twin Valley representative Kristy Corey, of Whitingham, who chairs the Twin Valley Unified Union School District board.
Anne Beekman, a member of the Windham Southeast School District board representing Putney, said she understood that small districts didn’t want one large district to hold all the votes. “Conversely, our large district doesn’t want to be able to be outvoted by a bunch of (districts with) like not even half the rest of the students,” she said.
Rep. Emily Long, a member of the House Education Committee, who was filling in for West River Modified Union Education District chair Joe Winrich, said that small communities feel vulnerable as a result of Act 46 and Act 73, two previous education funding and governance laws passed in 2015 and 2025, respectively.
“So I just want to make sure that everybody feels like they have a voice,” she said.
Dummerston resident Jody Normandeau expressed skepticism about Act 170, based on her experience with the merger processes under Act 46 of 2015.
Normandeau told the committee that despite local voters rejecting a voluntary consolidation plan, the state in 2018 issued an order that forcibly merged Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney into one school district.
“I am open to this discussion, as I understand the process,” she said. “But it won’t be easy for me to remain open after all that’s happened to us down here in the past.”
David Schoales of Brattleboro suggested the study committee meet the proportional representation requirement by a compromise: both instituting weighted voting and increasing the committee’s size.
“Because of the disparity in size in long-term weighted students in each of the participating districts, proportional representation is going to be complex for you to work out,” they said. “I would encourage you to not go completely with weighted voting.”
“I just want to make sure that the public knows that the reason we’re all here is that we care about students, and we want what’s best for them,” said Nancy Wiese, director of the Windham Regional Career Center and a Springfield resident.
For the next meeting, for which a date and place have not yet been set, members asked for data on potential merger configurations and how — combined with projected funding — they might impact property taxes.
Setting committee goals
Brown played a video featuring Dave Younce, statewide facilitator, who outlined key components of Act 170, which requires school districts to hold talks over the next year about possible mergers, although there will be no mandatory consolidation.
He explained that his role was to gather information, ask questions, and help the committee achieve its goals.
“I want us to be mindful of the fact that this is a group that, for a whole host of reasons — mapping, the legislature, school size, location — to get to the finish line, you either have to have a proposal or a counterproposal that is better than the one the state thinks you’re going to come up with,” Brown said.
“If we get to a place where it’s us versus them within our own group, we’re doomed,” he said. “We’re never going to get to the next phase of this process.”
Under Act 170, groups will report findings and recommendations in fall 2027. Voters will decide whether to go ahead with any recommended mergers at Annual Town Meetings in March 2028.
Group 5 is one of 18 study groups statewide. In addition to Corey, Winrich, and Beekman, its other members include Paul Blais, Halifax School District; Dan MacArthur, Marlboro School District; and Kat Baldwin, Vernon Town School District.
Committee members affirmed Blais as chair.
All study committee meetings are public. Most school districts have launched Act 170 information pages that include agendas, minutes, and other resources. For Group 5’s, visit wsesu.org/act-170-region-5-merger-committee.
A version of this story appeared in The Deerfield Valley News, The Commons’ sister newspaper.
This News item by Olga Peters originally appeared in The Deerfield Valley News and was republished in The Commons with permission.