Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday defended his decision to appoint Zoie Saunders interim education secretary despite the Senate’s historic vote to reject her permanent appointment to the role.
“I think this was a partisan political hit job,” Scott told reporters at his weekly press conference, adding that he might reappoint Saunders in a permanent capacity. “I’m not ruling anything out at this point, but we’ll contemplate that over the next few weeks.”
The Senate’s landslide 19-9 vote not to confirm Saunders dealt a jarring blow to the governor, whose administration lobbied intensely in support of its candidate.
Senators who opposed Saunders singled out what they characterized as her limited public school experience and cursory vision for the future of Vermont’s education system.
The interim leader of the state’s Agency of Education arrived in April from Florida, where she most recently spent three months as chief strategy and innovation officer of Broward County Public Schools. Critics, ranging from state senators to Vermont’s teachers union, have also scrutinized her more than six year tenure at Charter Schools USA, a for-profit education management firm.
On Wednesday morning, Saunders appeared in the Statehouse before the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to discuss career and technical education.
Stopped in the hallway afterward, she brushed off her rocky arrival in Vermont.
“I’ve never been one for a title,” she said, nodding to her “interim” moniker. “I’m really about being engaged and doing the work.”
Despite an overwhelming rejection from lawmakers, Saunders will begin to steer a public school system reeling from unprecedented budget failures and soaring education costs. After two weeks on the job, Saunders said it’s clear Vermonters want a unifying vision for public education. For now, the vision is hers to develop.
Vermont law states gubernatorial appointments require the “advice and consent” of the Senate but also grants the governor authority to fill vacancies.
On Wednesday, Scott said that he believes Saunders is “the right person at the right time” to lead Vermont’s education system, adding that it was his “constitutional obligation to fill a vacancy,” hence the interim appointment.
Asked whether putting Saunders back into the job was executive overreach, Scott pointed to historical precedent. Howard Dean, he noted, had reappointed people whom the Senate voted not to confirm, though these appointees were not cabinet members.
“I’m not saying that’s what we’re going to do. That’s down the road. But I think there is precedent,” he said.
Some senators, though, expressed indignation at Saunders’ interim appointment mere moments after their vote.
“I think it sort of circumvents our role as the Senate,” Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison said on Tuesday, “and that’s circumventing the constitutional separation of powers and the constitutional checks and balances.”
Peter Teachout, a constitutional law scholar, told VTDigger he thought senators had standing to take the governor to court over the move.
At his press conference, Scott called the possibility of a lawsuit a “theory” but “not a concern.”
Despite some precedent, Vermont may be in uncharted waters. Longtime Senate observers say they aren’t aware of a state secretary whose nomination was shot down by the Senate.
“We thought we were some sort of special snowflake here in Vermont, where things like that didn’t happen. They happen in other states, particularly red states,” the governor said at his press conference, “but it happened right here in Vermont, in a blue state.”
The drama places Scott and the Legislature in a thorny political situation. Yet the tension, which Scott characterized as “toxic,” may be fueling the governor. He suggested it could drive him to run for another term, though he will wait to announce whether or not he’s running after the legislative session ends.
“In some respects, some of what we’ve experienced over the last couple of weeks would lead me to jump back in,” he said, “because I think that we can do better.”
Sarah Mearhoff contributed reporting.
