CVSD School Board Opposes Further Consolidation
Recommendations detailed in letter to Vermont Redistricting Task Force
As a school board, we thank the Vermont School District Redistricting Task Force for their work to support and improve education across the state. CVSD’s school board shares that vision for our community, while fostering growth and belonging for all of our students.
As we shared with the Redistricting Task Force at their recent public hearing, CVSD’s school board supports the supervisory district governance model under which we have operated since 2017. This model allows CVSD to operate at an efficient scale that positively impacts our students and community and is the primary structure we recommend the Task Force consider when modeling across Vermont.
CVSD is a supervisory district formed under Act 46, with one 12-member governing school board overseeing six schools (CVU High School, three preK-8 schools, one preK-2 school, and one 3-8 school) across five towns. Prior to 2017, the towns of Charlotte, Shelburne, Hinesburg, St. George, and Williston formed the Chittenden South Supervisory Union (CSSU), which was governed by seven different school boards. One of our towns previously offered school choice because it did not operate a school.
CVSD is the only district in Vermont that meets the minimum size requirements in Act 73 for one key reason: we consolidated eight years ago and have spent the time since doing the hard work that consolidation requires. This work has positively impacted both our students and our community in many ways.
The supervisory district structure and size of our district allow our schools to operate at scale and enables our central office to work efficiently in providing the conditions for all students, in all schools, to advance toward our shared mission and vision. Some examples include:
The superintendent reports to a single school board with one budget, and our schools follow a common curriculum framework and unified set of policies. This coherence improves student outcomes through aligned professional learning, consistent instructional practices, and equitable allocation of resources.
Our class sizes are well above the minimums outlined in Act 73. Each K–8 school currently has at least two classes per grade, which allows students to learn in dynamic environments and have a range of peers over the years.
We oversee the entire educational experience—from preK or kindergarten through high school graduation—and we understand how tax dollars are spent, allowing us to reallocate resources when needs arise within our schools.
Consolidation has been beneficial for our community. It has also required significant time and effort involving the technical aspects of governance and operations, as well as deep collaboration, trust, and attention to integrate communities, identities, and expectations. Further consolidation risks diverting our focus from our central mission: to engage every student and continue evolving our instructional and assessment systems toward a future-ready model.
We also recognize that, beyond a certain point, districts may begin to lose the benefits of scale. For these reasons, we have not identified any other districts that CVSD should consolidate with.
We know there are no easy answers to the redistricting work outlined under Act 73. CVSD’s school board is committed to engaging in the process, to collaborating with our legislative representatives, and to educating our constituency along the way in order to best represent our students and community.
Thank you,
Champlain Valley School District School Board