How this committee differs from the CESA
This committee’s official name is the Chittenden Central CESA Merger Committee. That leads some people to think the committee and the Chittenden Central CESA are the same thing. They are not. Act 170 of 2026 created both, but they have different members and different jobs. The committee takes its name from the CESA’s region.
In short: this committee is made of elected school board members, who answer to voters, studying a question that voters will decide. The CESA is built to run shared services, and its members may send their superintendents to its board instead of elected board members.
What the CESA is
A Cooperative Educational Service Area (CESA) is a group of school systems that share programs and services, so each one does not have to pay for its own. Act 170 divided Vermont into seven CESAs.
The Chittenden Central CESA has five members: the Burlington, Colchester, Essex Westford, South Burlington, and Winooski school systems.
The CESA is permanent. It is a public body that can hire staff, sign contracts, and keep its own budget, paid for by fees from its members and by grants. When a member asks and the CESA board agrees, the CESA must offer help with:
- special education;
- business, technology, and office services; and
- forming union school districts.
Starting July 1, 2027, it must also offer staff training, curriculum work, transportation, and planning for school buildings.
Each member’s board names one person to the CESA board each year. That person may be a school board member or the superintendent, or someone the superintendent names. Each member has one vote. The board must meet at least four times a year. It held its first meeting on July 28, 2026.
What this committee is
This committee exists to answer one question: would it be advisable for Burlington, South Burlington, and Winooski to form one school district? Its members are school board members from those three districts only. Burlington has 3 votes, South Burlington 2, and Winooski 1. See Committee members.
The committee sends its report by September 1, 2027. If it recommends a merger, voters decide on March 7, 2028. If it finds a merger inadvisable, its members may vote to end the committee. See Act 170 of 2026 for the full timeline.
Side by side
| This committee | The CESA | |
|---|---|---|
| Created by | Act 170, Section 13 | Act 170, Section 2 |
| School districts | Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski | Those three, plus Colchester and Essex Westford |
| Who serves | Elected school board members only | One person per member: a school board member, or the superintendent or someone the superintendent names |
| Votes | Burlington 3, South Burlington 2, Winooski 1 | One per member |
| Job | Study one possible merger and make a recommendation | Share services among its members |
| How long it lasts | Until its report and any vote | No end date |
| Who runs meetings | A neutral facilitator from the state’s program | The CESA board’s own chair |
| Paid for by | The state, including up to $10,000 for legal and other help | Member fees and grants |
Why the names overlap
Act 170 used the seven CESA regions to organize the merger study. The law asked the Vermont Learning Collaborative to hire one facilitator for each CESA region. Each facilitator then sorted the districts in that region into merger committees. Our facilitator, Craig Aarons-Martin, covers the Chittenden Central region, so this committee carries the region’s name.
The Vermont Learning Collaborative is itself a CESA, the one for southeastern Vermont. The facilitators work for it, not for the Chittenden Central CESA.
The Chittenden Central region has three merger committees, and they do not line up with the CESA:
- Group 18: Burlington, South Burlington, and Winooski. This committee.
- Group 14: Essex Westford, on its own.
- Group 19: Colchester, with Milton and the Grand Isle districts (Alburgh, Champlain Islands, and South Hero). Those four are in a different CESA, Champlain Valley North.
The law allows districts from different CESAs to study a merger together.
Where the two meet
- The CESA does not decide on mergers and does not run this committee. The law gives neither body any power over the other.
- The CESA must offer its members help with forming a union school district, if a member asks and the CESA board agrees.
- A merger could change the CESA. By January 1, 2028, and again by December 1, 2028, the Agency of Education must suggest changes to CESA lines that take new merged districts into account. The Legislature decides whether to make them.
Sources
- Act 170 of 2026, as enacted: Section 2 (CESAs), Section 2a (services added July 1, 2027), Section 12 (CESA start-up), Section 13 (merger committees), Section 14a and Section 16 (CESA boundary reports), Section 17 (funding)
- 16 V.S.A. § 603: Creation of cooperative educational service areas
- Chittenden Central CESA meeting agenda, July 28, 2026
- Vermont Learning Collaborative: Merger Committee Directory
- Vermont Learning Collaborative: Selection of regional facilitators
Last updated October 27, 2026.