Panel Named to Take Next Big Steps in Education Reform

State officials have appointed all 11 members of the task force charged with drawing new school district boundaries, one week after Gov. Phil Scott signed this year’s sweeping education reform bill into law.

The School District Redistricting Task Force marks one of the first substantial decisions for policy makers following the passage of the education reform package, H.454, which is poised to reshape how Vermont’s schools are organized and funded.

Under the law, the task force must draft no more than three redistricting proposals, including detailed maps, for the legislature by December 1, 2025. The recommendations will redefine the state’s current landscape of 52 supervisory unions, 119 school districts and more than 80,000 students.

“This task force is an important step in building a public education system that is more equitable, more sustainable and more responsive to the needs of students and communities,” House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) said in a statement announcing her appointees on Tuesday.

The newly formed redistricting task force consists of three state senators, three state representatives, and five retired superintendents and school business managers. Scott, the Senate’s Committee on Committees and Krowinski appointed the members, as dictated by the recently signed education law.

Last week, Scott named former education commissioner David Wolk, who also previously worked as a superintendent of schools in Rutland City and as president of Castleton University.

On Monday, the Committee on Committees, the panel tasked with naming senators to various assignments — Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden-Central), Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden-Southeast) and Republican Lt. Gov. John Rodgers — appointed three senators and two retired education officials to the task force.

It chose Sen. Scott Beck (R-Caledonia), Sen. Martine Gulick (D-Chittenden Central), Sen. Wendy Harrison (D-Windham), and former school officials Dr. Jennifer Botzojorns and Chris Locarno. Botzojorns is a retired superintendent of the Kingdom East School District, and Locarno is a retired director of finance and facilities for the Central Vermont Supervisory Union.

Gulick, who has experience working in the public education system as a former teacher and librarian, said in a statement that she looked forward to working with the other members of the committee to create an equitable, right-size and thriving public education system.

On Tuesday, Krowinski, responsible for selecting three legislators and two retired education officials, appointed Rep. Edye Graning (D-Jericho), Rep. Rebecca Holcombe (D-Norwich), Rep. Beth Quimby (R-Lyndon), and former school officials Dr. Jay Badams and Kim Gleason.

Holcombe previously served for four years as secretary of education — under Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and then Scott — until she resigned in 2018 over what were said to be differences of opinion over major policy positions with Scott.

Hailing from Holcombe’s House district in the Upper Valley, Badams recently retired as superintendent of SAU 70, the nation’s first interstate school district, bridging Hanover, N.H., and the Norwich school systems. Krowinski’s other education official appointee, Gleason, previously served for six years on the State Board of Education.

Notably absent from the task force is Sen. Seth Bongartz (D-Bennington), who is chair of the Senate Education Committee and was a central figure during the final negotiations of the education bill. Bongartz drew criticism from fellow lawmakers, including Gulick, and outside advocates for working to protect the interests of independent schools as the reform bill was hashed out.

Bongartz previously spent 15 years as board chair of Burr & Burton Academy, his alma mater and an independent school in his Senate district. Beck, who is a teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy and was named to the task force, faced similar critiques for focusing policy negotiations on independent schools.

Prior to the announcement of the Senate’s appointees, Bongartz told Seven Days that he had expressed interest in serving on the redistricting task force.

With the group’s membership now finalized, the task force is set to hold its first meeting sometime before August 1 to begin the process of drafting proposals for the legislature to consider next year. The proposed districts would not be implemented until July 2028, which is also when the state’s new education funding formula will go into effect.

Each option should have districts with 4,000 to 8,000 pre-K through grade 12 students. Currently, only one district in the state — the Champlain Valley School District — has more than 4,000 students. Among the guidelines provided for the task force, the legislation calls for the proposals to create minimal disruption.

The legislation also directs the group to work closely with the Commission on the Future of Public Education over the next five months. But last month, two members of that body, including its chair, resigned over concerns that the commission’s education-reform work was undercut by political motives and prioritization of independent schools in the legislature.

The task force will also hold at least two public hearings to gather feedback from members of the public regarding school district consolidation and proposed boundaries.