Dossier
Act 170
Coverage of Act 170 in the Nexus archive.
- Vermont’s new education law pays districts to merge. It doesn’t make them save.
Vermont's Act 170, signed into law as H.955, mandates school district merger study committees and cooperative educational service areas (CESAs) by 2026, but lacks efficiency targets, oversight, and accountability mechanisms. Critics argue structural gaps, such as conflicting CESA and merger group boundaries, could undermine savings potential, despite identified $9M-$10M in back-office savings for Chittenden County districts.