Redistricting Task Force Meeting Summary

The Redistricting Task Force created by Act 73 met in Waterbury on the morning of August 1. Here is a summary of the meeting.

08:30 Elected Sen. Martine Gulick and Rep. Edye Graning as co-chairs.
Members introduced themselves.

08:45 Legislative Counsel reviewed Act 73 and the charge of the task force.

09:10 Members articulated their goals:

What problem are we trying to solve?

• Judge David Wolk: Aim at creating better education for students regardless of zip code.
• Sen. Scott Beck: Governance and excellence that makes sense and offers options.
• Jay Badams: Consider declining enrollment and increasing costs.
• Rep. Beth Quinby: Reduce upheaval and chaos in education policy
• Chris Locarno: Preserve local schools.
• Sen. Harrison: Keep local schools; coordinate better with CTE; don’t hurt what’s working well.
• Sen. Gulick: Equitable services to all .
• Rep Graning: Make data-driven decisions.
• Judge Wolk: Identify the drivers of high costs.
• Kim Gleason: Focus on the journey of a student Pre-K 12, align schools to that journey.
• Jen Botzojorns : Gather local information.
• Rep.Holcomb: Design something practical and achievable? Not more unimplementable ideas.

What do we hope to achieve?
– Create three maps.
– Identify cost drivers.
– Identify best practices. Build on what we are doing well.
– Identify success from collective action among districts.
– Design cohesive PreK-12 experiences for students.
– How will we define success? Low taxes? Educational opportunity? Outcomes?
– Avoid going beyond our mission. Focus on our assigned tasks.
– Put together maps that are practical and passable.
– Does consolidation save money?
– Our task will require some hard choices and sacrifices, and so we must involve the public.
– Our task will require perhaps more time than has been allocated.
– Identify what legislation will need to be changed.

What data do we need?
– Vermont demographic trends for future student population. And where.
– How many school districts is enough?
– We want maps with overlays. Where kids live, and where they go to school.
– We need access to all the existing data on school buildings.
– Data on the capacity of the Agency of Education, and what support will be needed in the future.
– Projections of optimized school locations.
– CTE sending patterns. List of approved private schools.
– Teacher and principal turnover data.
– Clarity on educational outcomes: how do we measure benefit to students?
– What is an adequate number of educational entities?
– Data on BOCES-type shared services.

09:51 Secretary Saunders explains process of filling AOE positions.

09:55 Discussion of Task Force’s connection with the Commission on the Future of Education.
What questions should they be asking the public?
– What is important to preserve in our schools?
– What are their hopes for the future?
– School boards want to tell us what they think — we should create a – communication channel(s).
– What do you value in our current system? (Not structures but values.)
– What specific aspects of local control are most important to you?

General comments
– We need to summarize our work without jargon, so we are transparent.
– We now have an official Task Force email: ADM.Redistricting@vermont.gov
– And a website: https://aoa.vermont.gov/school-district-redistricting-task-force
– We are acting for the entire state, not just our town or school.

10:05 Break

Hiring a Facilitator
10:12 Secretary of Administration Clark explains process of hiring a facilitator(s).
10:21 Task force suggests a simplified bid process. Authorizes chairs to work with Secretary Clark to develop a bid.
Discusses scope of work for facilitator:
– Summaries of meetings.
– Plans outreach.
– Writes the final report.
– Develops a work plan and calendar, working backward from the final report.
– Gets materials to members well in advance.
Make sure the facilitator has extensive experience in Vermont public education.

Data Tools
10:30 Sec of Digital services Hughes and GIS chief John Allen introduce “District Builder” data tool.
10:41 Discussion of the data tools.

Future meetings
10:43 Discussion of future meetings.
Agree on sIx-hour meetings, starting at 09:30, In different locations. Will coordinate calendars.

Public comments

• Sue Ceglowski, VSBA exec. Commit to fairness, equity, transparency, public involvement. Recognize your flexibility. Preserve community engagement. Don’t add disruption.
• Cheryl Charles, Westminster school board, and Rural School Alliance. Supports supervisory unions and preservation of rural schools.
• April Palmer, South Hero parent, advocates not closing schools.
• Jen Lyon-Horne, parent and school counselor, South Hero, questions the speed of this process.
• Shantee Parchment, parent in South Hero, promotes safety.
• Rachel Sweeney, South Burlington, advocates smaller classes.
• Dylan Degree, South Hero, advocates keeping small schools open.
• Julie Mach, Pawlet, consider cost analysis of SU vs. SD, advocates tuitioning.

11:04 adjourn