Group 3 school merger committee begins work in Manchester

The merger study effort is unfolding alongside state planning for cooperative education service areas, or CESAs.

Representatives from school districts across portions of Bennington, Rutland, Windsor and Windham counties met Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Equinox Valley Middle School for the first session of Group 3 under Act 170, the state’s new education law aimed at helping districts examine shared services and possible consolidation.

The meeting was mostly about getting organized. Eric Montbriand of the Wells Springs Unified Union District, which serves Wells and Middletown Springs, was chosen to lead the committee, while Jeff Wilson of the Taconic & Green Regional School District was selected as vice-chair.

The group also met Dr. Luvelle Brown, who will guide the committee’s discussions as facilitator. Brown, superintendent of the Ithaca City School District in Ithaca, N.Y., was appointed through the Vermont Learning Collaborative, a Windsor-based consulting group managing the merger study process for Act 170. Brown has worked as a teacher, principal and superintendent in Ithaca and was recognized as New York State Superintendent of the Year in 2017.

The committee is one of 18 merger study groups established statewide. Their role is advisory: they are expected to examine whether districts can reduce costs or improve services through merger, consolidation or other forms of cooperation. Their findings are due by Sept. 1, 2027, and the state Board of Education is scheduled to issue its own report by Dec. 15, 2027. Voters would then have the final say at March Town Meetings in 2028.

One of the first questions to confront Group 3 was how voting power should be divided. Act 170 calls for proportional representation based on enrollment, but the exact method has not been settled. That issue drew the most discussion at the opening session, and members eventually voted 7-5 to postpone a decision until Dec. 17.

Brown said one possible measure could be average daily membership, or ADM, but noted that the committee still had limited guidance.

Wilson argued that the largest district in the group should not be treated as if its size did not matter. He said the Taconic & Green district, with about 1,600 students, had already gone through major consolidation in past years and should not be penalized for that history. He also said the district was open to compromise.

Smaller districts saw the issue differently. Joe Frigo of the Stratton School District favored a system in which each district would have an equal vote, warning that a strictly enrollment-based model could leave smaller communities with little influence. Dean Gianotti Jr. of the Winhall School District asked whether proportionality would mean more committee seats for larger districts or simply weighted votes for the members already appointed.

The same question has surfaced elsewhere in the state. In Group 5, covering several Windham County districts, members also chose to delay action on proportional voting until they receive more direction from the Agency of Education.

Wilson said after the meeting that he understood the concerns of the smaller districts and believed the committee could reach a workable arrangement. He also said the group faces much broader challenges than voting formulas.

He pointed to the different school structures represented in Group 3, including Taconic & Green’s K-8 operating system with 9-12 school choice, compared with districts such as Winhall, Stratton and Sandgate, which allow K-12 choice. Other districts operate with different grade spans and policies. He said those differences would make any merger discussion complicated, especially because residents are familiar with the arrangements they already have.

Montbriand said the committee will also need to examine district assets and possible governance models as the process moves forward.

School choice is likely to become another major topic. Under Act 170, a merged district would have to apply one consistent choice policy across the entire district, which could affect long-standing arrangements with independent schools including Burr & Burton Academy, Long Trail School, Maple Street School, The Mountain School at Winhall and the Stratton Mountain School. A background document prepared by local independent schools and the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union said the law does not allow different school choice rules for different towns within the same merged district.

That document also outlined several paths the committee could ultimately consider, ranging from a full merger to a partial combination involving only some districts, or a recommendation that identifies some districts as necessary and others as advisable.

The merger study effort is unfolding alongside state planning for cooperative education service areas, or CESAs, which are intended to support regional collaboration and service delivery. Voters in March 2028 are expected to weigh proposed district and school board changes while lawmakers continue work on a new foundation formula for school funding, set to begin July 1, 2029.

State Sen. Seth Bongartz, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, attended the Manchester meeting and said the overall purpose is to help districts determine whether mergers could create meaningful efficiencies. He said some groups may decide a merger makes sense, while others may conclude that only part of the larger group should join together.