Calling the future legislation a “big shaggy bill,” committee Chair Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, said he wants to wait until the new members on his committee have a better understanding of Act 46. For the next month, he said, he wants to continue taking testimony from the field.
“It is my thinking that we will be slowly putting together a compendium of all these ideas. Eventually we can sit down and come up with the best approach,” he said.
In 2015, lawmakers responded to declines in student enrollment and voter outrage over annual school tax increases by passing Act 46, which requires communities to consider merging school districts and gave out incentives if they united. In 2019, the State Board of Education will decide what to do with any unmerged districts.
Since June 2015, 66 school districts have merged into 14 new structures. But voters in four supervisory unions rejected merger proposals that would have affected 20 school districts. Nine mergers will go before voters in March, but other parts of the state continue to struggle through study committee meetings as they seek a path forward.
Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, has presented S.15 to the committee. It would give study groups more time by lengthening the timelines guiding the school district merger process, eliminate the preferred merger plan language in Act 46; loosen expectations for alternative merger plans; and allow a merged district to have a minimum of 500 students instead of 1,100.
Kitchel said the legislation aims to level the playing field and get rid of the notion that the preferred merger process is the only or best answer. “Depending on what part of the state you are in, Act 46 has become a source of great anger in some communities,” she said.
Last week members of the panel went to the Northeast Kingdom and heard from communities that have taken part in Act 46.
“Every one of the people in that room … spoke very loudly and clearly that they were not happy about this process,” said Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia. But he said they added that they “have actually sat down and worked through the process and … came to the conclusion that it was better for (their) kids.”
“That I had not heard before,” Benning said.
He added that people from those communities also said they wouldn’t appreciate it if the timelines were extended to appease others after they put so much work into coming together.
“I’m hoping the outliers are going to come around,” he said.
Wednesday the head of the Vermont School Boards Association, Nicole Mace, testified on changes the group wants in the law. Mace also addressed some of the proposals in S.15.
“We would oppose the blanket timeline extensions and placing the alternative structure on equal footing with the preferred structure,” she said. The group also opposes lowering the minimum student count for supervisory unions to 500, she said, adding that these moves would change the rules of the game that others have had to play by for almost two years.
The association’s board spent two months considering what changes to propose before approving them with a vote last week. The board suggested extending the deadline for regional education district mergers from July to November if communities need more time for a vote. It also recommended lengthening the deadline for areas considering alternate structures, especially if they have extenuating issues.
The group also suggested some technical clarifications to the law, and amendments to side-by-side mergers. The board wants to allow such mergers with just one K-through-12 operating school district as a side instead of two. Currently, side-by-sides have to have two K-12 operating districts merge on one side and two or more districts with school choice on the other.
Baruth has said he plans to lift ideas out of bills and testimony on Act 46 for his omnibus legislation. “I’m very glad to have all of these ideas. I think we will get three or four more bills as we go along,” he said.
