Education Legislative Alert

The Vermont Senate, this week, has moved into high gear on its consideration of H.361. The Senate Finance Committee approved several changes to the bill on Tuesday. The Senate appropriations Committee made several changes on Wednesday.  The full bill is likely to be taken up on the floor of the Senate either this afternoon (through a rules suspension) or on Friday. You can find the full bill on the Senate Notice Calendar forMay 7, 2015. 

The Senate bill takes a much more flexible approach to the entire effort.  It begins with a general description of a “preferred state” for education governance, but takes a very flexible approach to working in that direction. An amendment proposed by the Senate Appropriations committee removed the proposed elimination of small schools grants. The bill continues to phase out the ADM Hold Harmless features. It continues to include substantial incentives for regions that pursue REDs between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016. It then allows districts and SUs to sort out the best approach to move forward, including a process for self-evaluation by June 30, 2017 (section 23). For districts that have not chosen a path forward by 2018, the Secretary and State Board will be proposing a realignment plan which then goes to the General Assembly during its 2019-2020 session for approval.
 
The bill does not include caps or any other specific cost-containment strategy.
 
Overall, the bill provides a great deal of flexibility while emphasizing the need to focus on equity and to gain some scale and achieve efficiencies.
 
Although this bill has some problematic features,  overall it provides a reasonable path forward to look at our challenges while avoiding an overly prescriptive approach. If it passes, the expectation is that a conference committee will convene early next week to hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bills.
 
We have heard from board members who strongly support action this year. We have heard from some who continue to be concerned about particular aspects of each bill. We know that a number of boards are expressing concern about possible pressure to close small schools (despite statements in the Senate bill to the contrary). We have seen the petition asking to delay action for another year. On the opposite side of that debate, one board member stated to us that “they either need to pass this bill or pass a bill that says they won’t pass any bill”!  The sentiment was that this perpetual uncertainty makes it very difficult for boards to make decisions and set direction.
 
Regardless of your take on the Senate bill,   if you want to weigh in with your Senator, now is the time. Even if the bill does get acted upon today, it will likely be voted on againtomorrow when it comes up for "third reading" so any input to your senators today would be timely.
  
Should the bill pass the Senate, we will keep you informed over the next week on the work of the Conference Committee.  We will attempt to influence the problematic sections. Both chambers will need to again vote next week on any final agreement.
 
The General Assembly is slated to adjourn by May 15.