Facing a declining K-12 student population and rising education costs, Vermont lawmakers approved Act 46 in 2015. This legislation has the potential to consolidate school districts that have fewer than 900 students. The law aims to significantly reduce the number of districts in the state by using tax incentives as a carrot and forced consolidation as a stick. Advocates of the legislation claim economies of size and scale will save Vermont taxpayers money and provide more educational equity for students. Opponents say the initiative is an affront to Vermonters' local control, centralization of power, and a means to close small schools. The purpose of this case study is to understand how preconsolidation and postconsolidation expenditures and student performance results compare to stakeholder perceptions. The research site for this school consolidation case study will be the Waterbury-Duxbury School District, located in Waterbury and Duxbury, Vermont. Results of the study may be beneficial to Vermont communities that are examining and considering school district consolidation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]