VT School District Redistricting Task Force

“The Creative Discourse Group provided The School District Redistricting Task Force with the expertise and support we needed to take on an extremely difficult task in a condensed timeline.” -Vermont Senator Martine L. Gulick

 As part of Act 73—Vermont’s Education Transformation legislation—the Legislature established the School District Redistricting Task Force to explore strategies for creating a more coherent, equitable and affordable statewide education system. TCDG was engaged to provide meeting facilitation, public engagement and analysis, and report development throughout this complex and time-sensitive process.

The Task Force carried out its work under a highly compressed timeline and within a number of significant constraints. In this environment, TCDG supported members in grounding their deliberations in the principles they established, navigating hard conversations where legitimate differences of perspective existed, and building shared understanding across diverse viewpoints.  Our facilitation helped the group incorporate public input, interrogate assumptions, and move collaboratively through to the completion of its report—even without unanimous agreement on recommendations.

Impact: The process produced a comprehensive roadmap for the legislature’s consideration, grounded in evidence, to foster improved efficiency and quality through regional shared services, expanding educational opportunity, and improving system coherence across Vermont.