Vt. board of education rejects school district merger plan

The state board of education has a rejected a plan to merge two school districts under Act 46. The vote was announced Monday at Mill River Union High School in North Clarendon.

The state board has been holding meetings around the region seeking feedback on the education secretary's merger plan for districts that did not voluntarily come up with their own plans. Of the 11 proposals discussed Monday, the board rejected the merger plan for the Cabot and Danville districts. The question now is what happens next.

"A lot of the Section 9 proposals are setting up goals for the districts and whether or not we should be approving those goals or just the governance. I think the conversation ended that we should be looking just at the governance," said Krista Huling, the chair of the Vermont Board of Education.

The secretary's plan also proposed that the Elmore and Stowe districts not merge, but the state board also rejected that plan, meaning that a possible merger could be on the table.

The final plan from the state board will come next month.