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Explore our coverage of government and politics.

Final Act 46 Plan Creates 11 New Union School Districts In Vermont

Desks in a line in an empty classroom. Up close of one with books in it.
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The final Act 46 report, posted Friday, merges 45 districts in 39 towns to form 11 new union school districts.

The Agency of Education has issued the final Act 46 statewide plan. The final report from the State Board of Education merges 45 districts in 39 towns to form 11 new union school districts.

Those new districts include:

  • Windham Southeast Unified Union School District
  • Franklin Northwest Unified Union School District
  • Oxbow Unified Union School District
  • Barre Unified Union School District
  • Washington Central Unified Union School District
  • Lamoille South Unified Union School District
  • Enosburgh-Richford Unified Union School District
  • Windham Northeast Union Elementary School District
  • Orleans Southwest Union Elementary School District
  • Orleans Central Union Elementary School District
  • Southwest Vermont Union Elementary School District

The final plan also extended three existing union school districts, and in total reduced 34 districts across the state.
According to the Agency of Education website, 63 percent of the state’s K-12 students will live in a new union school district created by Act 46 and by Acts 153 and 156 — two previously adopted school district consolidation laws — by July 2019.

The full plan can be read here.

Nearly 30 communities plan to appeal their forced mergers in court, according to the organization Vermonters for Schools and Community, a group that opposes Act 46.

Howard Weiss-Tisman is Vermont Public’s southern Vermont reporter, but sometimes the story takes him to other parts of the state.
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