Sen. Philip Baruth, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he has received a number of inquiries since the abrupt resignation of Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe late last month. “In light of this development, doesn’t it make sense to hit the pause button for Act 46?,” some asked.
The answer is no, according to Baruth and five state leaders who issued a brief memo on the matter Wednesday.
“We write to assure you of our commitment to the current schedule and process of Act 46 of 2015. The work is an important step forward for Vermont’s system of education,” says the memo, signed by Baruth, three fellow legislative leaders, Gov. Phil Scott and State Board of Education Chair Krista Huling.
“We appreciate the hard work of communities, school boards and school staff – and to all those that have successfully moved through the process – and we look forward to continuing this good work in accordance with the existing timeline and statutory requirements,” it said.
Holcombe’s resignation, tendered in late March and effective April 1, came without explanation. Scott has since insisted that her replacement share his views on cost containment, while Holcombe’s husband wrote on Facebook that it was a professional decision, contradicting Scott’s own characterization of Holcombe’s decision as “personal.”
Former Deputy Education Secretary Heather Bouchey was appointed as the acting interim secretary this week.
Whatever the reason for Holcombe’s resignation, it came at a critical juncture in the Act 46 process.
The 2015 law requires school districts to consider voluntarily merging into larger administrative units. Any districts that didn’t join up by Nov. 30 had to provide a plan showing how they would improve their schools. These Section 9 reports were submitted to the State Board of Education in December.
Since then, Holcombe and agency staff have been meeting with communities to discuss their plans and possible merger partners. The secretary is required to submit a draft statewide education governance plan to the State Board of Education on June 1. On Nov. 30, the state board, after consulting with school districts, will present a final map.
About 40 communities didn’t merge and instead offered Section 9 proposals to the agency, according to Donna Russo Savage, its Act 46 specialist.
Russo Savage said on Tuesday that the agency has met with 30 of those applicants. There are another nine scheduled over the next few weeks. One meeting has yet to be scheduled.
“We are approximately three-quarters of the way through,” Russo Savage said, adding that she, Holcombe and Brad James, the agency’s finance manager, were the main participants in the Act 46 meetings so far.
Holcombe’s central role in the Act 46 meetings has led to concern that she alone had comprehensive institutional memory about what was discussed — meaning the agency would have to catch up before moving ahead.
But James said the agency has been meeting in teams, and that even more people have read the proposals.
“There is continuity,” James said. “There has been very open and frank discussions and no one has left feeling like they weren’t heard and they haven’t left feeling like we had already made up our minds.”
The map that will be presented in June is a “rough draft” and the state board will hold more hearings, according to Russo Savage. “Communities will have an opportunity to talk to and submit additional documentation to the people actually making the final decisions.”
