Act 170 groups

On September 18, 2026 the Vermont Learning Collaborative — the group the state hired to run the merger talks — put Vermont's 119 school districts into 18 groups, not the 20 the law printed. 13 districts had asked to move, and got their way. The law always allowed this. The guides also moved some other districts that did not ask, to keep each group near 2,000 students. They have not said how many.

They have not published which districts are in which new group. We know about 2 of the 13 moves that districts asked for, from news reports. That leaves at least 11 moves we cannot see.

So the groups below are still the law's groups, exactly as it wrote them. For many districts that is still the right answer. For at least two it is not, and we cannot tell you which of the rest changed. If a group's page says nothing about a change, that means we have no report about it — not that nothing happened.

What we do know:

• Harwood Union Unified School District moved out of group 20 and in with Mount Mansfield and Champlain Valley — which looks like group 13, though the guides have not numbered the new groups, so that match is our reading and could be wrong.
• Windham School District moved out of group 6 and in with the group that includes Londonderry — which looks like group 3, though the guides have not numbered the new groups, so that match is our reading and could be wrong.

The guides called the new groups a starting point, not a decision. School board leaders could send comments until September 23, 2026, and the plan was to settle the groups on September 25, 2026. We have not seen a report that they did. Each group has to hold its first meeting by October 15, 2026.