[T]he Senate Education Committee advanced its answer to the question of whether districts should be granted extra time to comply with forced mergers under Act 46.
In the fashion of good compromises, the plan, which the committee approved 5-1 on Friday, leaves basically all parties walking away unsatisfied.
The proposal, a revision to a House-passed bill crafted by Senate Education chair Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, would, in principle, allow most districts facing forced mergers the option to delay a year.
The Vermont Agency of Education objects to the Senate plan. So does the Vermont School Boards Association. Both argue that there should be no delay at all.
Neil Odell, the vice president of the VSBA, told lawmakers that delaying implementation undermined the Legislature’s earlier directives on consolidation, and could encourage school districts that have been defying the state by postponing merger activity.
“A delay of Acts 46/49 rewards these acts of civil disobedience and sends a message to school officials that failure to follow the law may be rewarded with relief from the law,” he said.
The agency, meanwhile, argues that the state is in a “clearer position” now than when the House passed its own delay proposal, since a judge has since weighed in and denied a request from school boards to postpone mergers while a challenge to the law winds its way through the courts. And they say that a situation in which two boards exist at the same time – an independent board and a unified board – could create policy complications if officials on each body disagree.
“It is unfair to ask public officials to endure hyperpoliticized school governance climates for another year, unless a clear benefit to students can be identified,” Donna Russo-Savage and Emily Simmons, attorneys for the agency, wrote in testimony to the committee.
But even those advocating to delay mergers don’t like the plan, and say that districts should be granted the authority to postpone consolidating by a year with no strings attached.
“Let’s start with due process. Even a convicted felon on death row is granted a stay while his appeal is pending,” Franklin school board chair Bob Berger told the committee.
Several committee members backed Baruth’s proposal reluctantly. Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden, the committee’s vice-chair, said testimony by a string of local school officials on Thursday had nearly convinced her any delay was too lenient.
“I’ve been trying, recently, to have great compassion and a sense of charity for the school districts that were wanting a delay. And yesterday’s testimony kind of did away with any compassion that I had and made me angry all over again,” she said.
Ingram said she still thought any delay would reward behavior “that wants to ignore the law, and think that we’re entitled and we’re special.”
“But the reality of politics, sometimes, is you have to compromise,” she said.
Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, meanwhile, defended certain local school officials, saying that some appeared to genuinely want the extra time to do complicated work well. Although he ultimately backed Baruth’s proposal, he said he worried asking unified boards to decide on a delay would create elections that would turn into referendums, once again, on Act 46.
Sen. Corey Parent, R-Franklin, who has consistently argued that districts need more time to merge, appeared the happiest with the plan.
“It’s not everything I wanted, but it’s actually more than I thought we would actually be able to get,” he said.
