This story by Jason Starr was first published in the Williston Observer on Sept. 4, 2025.
Champlain Valley School District finance leaders on Tuesday previewed the details of a $13 million bond question they plan to put to voters at Town Meeting Day.
District Facilities Director Chris Giard outlined an array of upgrades and maintenance projects that the bond funds would cover across multiple school buildings within the five-town district.
In Williston, $1.4 million would be spent on replacing both the floor in the front gymnasium, which currently has troublesome moisture underneath, Giard said, as well as the controls for the school’s light and heating-ventilation systems. Replacement parts for the current control systems are difficult to obtain, according to Giard.
At Champlain Valley Union High School, a roof replacement and heating-ventilation system overhaul would take up the majority of the $4 million in bond funds that would be allocated to the high school. Also in the work plan is a fire alarm system replacement.
Another $4 million in projects are planned at Hinesburg Community School, including roofing, heating-ventilation and electrical work. At Charlotte Community School, $2.9 million would go to installing an elevator that meets Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, new gym bathrooms and new siding.
The district is also planning a conversion to LED lights across all its buildings. That project is estimated at $700,000.
“We have a lot of fluorescent bulbs and fixtures to get rid of,” Giard said.
The bond question, if approved for the Town Meeting Day ballot by a school board majority, would be on the ballot next to the district’s funding request for the upcoming fiscal year. District Chief Operations Officer Gary Marckres said he plans to develop a budget draft by the end of September. A community budget forum is scheduled for Oct. 25 at CVU.
The September draft will be an estimate of the budget if all current staff and services remain in place — and an estimate on the impact to property tax rates — Marckres said. With the Vermont Legislature considering wholesale changes to the way public education is funded under Act 73, “this may be our last chance in the next 4 to 5 years to have a level service budget,” Marckres told the school board’s finance committee Tuesday.
Act 73 has the potential to stifle the flow of funds that support the district, redistributing them in a new statewide formula.
“We won’t have the funding to look like we look and do what we do,” Marckres said.
The legislation contemplates merging school districts, and lawmakers plan to consider new school district maps during the 2026 legislative session. But leaders at the school district — already the largest in the state — are intent on resisting any merger with neighboring districts.
“It’s the right size right now,” Champlain Valley School District Superintendent Adam Bunting said of the district. “I’m reluctant to talk about any merger.”
