MONTPELIER – Caledonia County Senator Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) of St. Johnsbury is one of 11 members appointed last week to the state task force charged with drawing up Vermont’s new school district boundaries. Beck brings to the task his experience as a social studies teacher on the St. Johnsbury Academy faculty.
Following his appointment, Beck said, “I look forward to this important work and providing Vermont students from all corners of Vermont with an excellent education.”
The School Redistricting Task Force was created by the education reform bill, H.454. It is the first step in “transforming Vermont’s education governance, quality, and finance systems” under the new law, said Scott as he signed the legislation.
The task force is to consult with the Committee on the Future of Public Education to “study and consider different configurations for school district boundaries,” with the goal of developing up to three proposals with maps designed to reorganize the state’s 52 supervisory unions, 119 school districts serving roughly 80,000 students. Those proposals are to establish districts with between 4,000 and 8,000 students and balance a wide range of measures, to “create the least amount of disruption to students as possible.” The General Assembly will then review those proposals beginning with its January 1, 2026 session, deciding on one.
David Wolk, Gov. Scott’s appointment to the task force, is a former education commissioner who has served as president of Castleton University and Rutland City Superintendent of Schools While signing the bill, Gov. Scott said the legislation was “just the beginning,” with future legislative sessions charged with continuing public education reform. It “will be just as difficult and just as important as what we did this spring.”
House and Senate leadership made their appointments last week too, with five appointments from each.
The Senate appointments announced last Monday by Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden Southeast), for the Senate’s Committee on Committees, were to include one retired or former Vermont superintendent, one retired or former Vermont school business manager and three current members of the Vermont Senate, not all from the same party nor the same school district. Appointed were Dr. Jennifer Botzojorns, retired Kingdom East School District Superintendent; Chris Locarno, retired Central Vermont Supervisory Union Director of Finance and Facilities; Sen. Beck; Sen. Martine Gulick (D-Chittenden Central) and Sen. Wendy Harrison (D-Windham).
On the House side, Vermont Speaker of the House, Representative Jill Krowinski, announced her appointments to the task force last Tuesday. The speaker was to appoint three members of the House, one former superintendent and one former school business manager or school board member. Those appointments are Rep. Edye Graning (D – Chittenden 3); Rep. Rebecca Holcombe (D – Windsor Orange 2); Rep. Beth Quimby (R – Caledonia 2); Dr. Jay Badams, recently retired as Superintendent of SAU 70, the nation’s first interstate school district, serving the Hanover and Norwich school systems and Kim Gleason, a Grand Isle resident who served a six-year term on the State Board of Education.
With task force members appointed, Beck said Wolk will now set the date of a first meeting before August 1.
Last week Beck said he expects the first meeting of the task force will be spent establishing a process leading to the December 1 recommendations it is charged with developing. At that first meeting members will likely review parts of H.454 relevant to the task force’s work, receive a briefing on the current organization of school systems in the state, learn about available resources to guide their work and begin to hear testimony from interested parties, said Beck.
At least two public hearings for gathering feedback from members of the public regarding school district consolidation and proposed boundaries are to be held by the task force.
During the summer Beck said he intends to attend Caledonia County school board and supervisory union meetings and looks forward to hearing from constituents. Email Beck at sbeck@leg.state.vt.us
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
