Twenty major reports calling for state mandated consolidation of Vermont schools were flung on the trash heap in the 2oth century. The 21st century opened with Richard Cate presenting the 21st report. It also failed.
The 22nd plan, to eliminate local boards and collapse Vermont’s town districts into 12 to 24 mega-districts, has now been placed on the state board table.
Before, yet again, embarking on such an ill-starred journey, we should ask why the previous efforts have suffered such ignominious defeats. The reasons are straightforward.
First, any effort to takeaway the democratic powers and authorities of citizens immediately runs into a vociferous backlash. Second, none of the plans show we can save money. Third, the citizens instinctively understand that the vital bond of communities, parents, and children is essential for quality education.
Democracy - The recent Council on the Future of Vermont reports that citizens see the school as the heart of their town. They value local schools, in their communities, where their children and the town’s children attend together. They value the election of local school board members. They value the ability to be able to call their neighbor to register a concern or a complaint and get something done. They value locally developed school budgets, voted by them. Whether mega-banks, mega-business or mega-government, people are wary of distant decisions by faraway people where their voice is lost in voice-mail purgatory. The proposed replacement of school boards with toothless “community school councils” is a pale and wan substitute.
Money – Despite Commissioner Vilaseca’s oft-repeated claim, there is no evidence that consolidation saves money. In fact, in the short term, it costs more, Dr. David Silvernail, a national expert, told the Vermont Education Funding and Effectiveness Committee.
As for consolidating central offices, they consume only 2.4% of education dollars. Saving a great deal from such a relatively small percentage is an even smaller savings. The minuscule savings are easily swallowed up by the annual increase in health premiums.
Education as Community - Vermonters, as well as citizens across the nation, understand that schools are far more than just test scores. They intuitively know what the research says. Small schools raise student achievement, reduce violence and disruption, combat anonymity and isolation, increase attendance and graduation rates, elevate teacher satisfaction, improve school climate, operate more cost-effectively, weaken the effects of poverty, and increase parent-community involvement. These civic knowledges are vital to the core purposes of schools. Perhaps it is because Vermont schools embrace these characteristics that our performance is so high, our child well being measures so positive, and our citizens support their school budgets so well.
The commissioner has to show that consolidation will not diminish democratic participation, will save money, and enhance student learning and civic virtues to such a degree that citizens will swap off part of their democratic power. There is little evidence that this case can be made.
Local towns and schools should, however, band together for greater efficiencies and better programs. More than 30 successful and productive examples have occurred in recent years.
Full disclosure requires me to report that I have been involved in very successful and not so successful local consolidation efforts. I was a long-serving Vermont superintendent and now serve as the managing director of the Education and the Public Interest Center.
Likewise, we can increase school efficiency while maintaining our democratic linkages in our communities. School business operations, special services, transportation, curriculum and professional development are needlessly fragmented. Centralizing these functions is simple and expedient.
The Council on the Future of Vermont said the state’s number one priority is affirming Vermont’s identity. The second concern is promoting community, and the third is building Vermont unity in a society increasingly economically and cyber-segregated. There are good ways to achieve and sustain these values. One would be in strengthening, rather than weakening, the bonds between towns, citizens, and generations in the democratic governance of our schools.
William J. Mathis
Goshen
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