Act 46 of 2015 - School District Unification

Act 46 of 2015 was designed to address some of Vermont’s current challenges in education. Under the law, school districts and supervisory unions are being asked to unify existing governance structures by 2020.  

‘Governance structure’ is a term for how school districts and supervisory unions operate -- their geographic size, the number of schools within their boundaries, the number of students they serve, the programs and services they offer, the number of budgets they manage, and the number and size of school boards.

Act 46 asks school boards and communities to examine ways to streamline processes and create operational and fiscal efficiency while ensuring that all components of the State Board of Education’s Education Quality Standards are met. In addition to fiscal efficiency, this includes quality and equity in the areas of academic achievement, personalization of learning, safe school climate, and high quality staffing.

As a first step, each school board within Orleans Southwest Supervisory has voted to join an exploratory committee to help each member town understand Act 46 and what it means for our community since each town must ultimately decide how it wishes to meet Act 46’s requirements. Each town school district must submit a proposal for how it intends to meet the act's requirements to the Agency of Education by approximately November 2017.

Upcoming Act 46 Events
Committee meeting dates have not yet been scheduled for the 2016-17 school year.  Review last year's meeting materials on the OSSU website.