This is an excerpt of Final Reading. For the full rundown of bills in motion at the Statehouse, the daily legislative calendar and interviews with newsmakers, sign up here for the unabridged version delivered straight to your inbox Tuesday through Friday evenings.
— After lawmakers scoffed at a proposal from the Scott administration to require school districts to revote on budgets, the governor said Friday the idea was part of a “brainstorming session” to address a looming shortfall in the education fund.
Asked about the proposal at his three-times-a-week press conference, Scott said lawmakers invited the administration to come up with ideas to deal with the projected $170 million gap.
While Scott downplayed the proposal Friday, he returned to familiar talking points about fiscal responsibility. “We’re not going to spend our way out of this, we’re not going to tax our way out of this,” Scott said. “We have to come up with other alternatives and I don’t know what they are.”
“But we have to have the conversation so this was a starting point,” he added, “it was a brainstorming session.” – Elizabeth Hewitt
— House Education lawmakers continued toiling with the dilemma that 19 Vermont school districts currently do not have fiscal year 2021 budgets.
They heard from the Vermont Superintendents Association, which is pushing back on an idea presented by the Senate Education committee. The association polled school districts across the state to better understand the losses they would face if they were level funded for 2021, based on fiscal year 2020 funding.
The Caledonia Cooperative Supervisory Union school district would see about a $600,000 decrease for its 2021 budget, which would lead to program cuts. The South Burlington School District would see about a $2.5 million decrease, which would lead to teacher and coach layoffs.
House Ed lawmakers are taking the weekend to mull over which budget avenues would be best for the state’s districts. – Grace Elletson
— Tourism officials told Senate Econ lawmakers that the sector is anticipating a hard hit from the coronavirus this summer.
To combat the financial losses, while also encouraging as much tourism in the state that can be safely allowed, Heather Pelham, commissioner of the Department of Tourism and Marketing, said her department is going to be encouraging Vermonters to explore their own state.
Because out-of-state visitors would have to quarantine for 14 days under current guidelines if they visited Vermont, Pelham said it doesn’t make sense to currently market to those visitors.
“We are hoping Vermonters will use their consumer spending power to support the sector,” Pelham said. – Grace Elletson
— Rep. Connie Quimby, R-Concord, will not be running for reelection this fall. The four-term representative of the Essex-Caledonia district told the Caledonian Record she had served a long time and was ready for her run in the Golden Dome to come to an end.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you for the past eight years; it has been a privilege and an honor,” she wrote in an announcement to her constituents. – Grace Elletson
