Vermont’s new education law pays districts to merge. It doesn’t make them save.

This commentary is by Sriram Srinivasan, a retired business executive whose analysis of Chittenden County school district consolidation has been submitted as written testimony to the Vermont Senate Committee on Education.Vermont’s education transformation bill, H.955, is now law. Gov. Phil Scott signed it on June 18, telling districts to “hit the ground running.” They certainly need to: Under what is now Act 170, districts have until Sept. 15, 2026, to assign a board member to