Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, chair of the House Education Committee, speaks as the committee is briefed on an education system restructuring bill at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, March 28. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe Vermont House and Senate have constructed diverging versions of education reform proposals in recent weeks, setting up a clash between the two chambers.Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Scott called for swift action on Thursday, throwing his weight behind the Senate’s expedited plan while casting shade on the lower chamber’s preference for delegating the work of drawing new, larger school districts. When the legislative session kicked off in January, House and Senate committees worked side by side to understand the Scott administration’s “education transformation proposal,” which called for five new, consolidated school districts and a reimagined funding formula. Almost three months in, that collaborative approach has diminished, and this week, the chairs of the House and Senate education committees both said they had not fully reviewed each other’s work. Scott has made education reform his key issue on the back of last year’s double-digit average property tax increases, and his administration has put forward a wide-ranging proposal that would remake Vermont’s public school system. With limited time left this session, he and allies have prioritized two big changes in particular: consolidating Vermont’s more than 100 school districts and changing how the state pays for education. Both, Scott argues, would save money, and he’s said he would be open to alternatives that check both boxes. While Democratic legislative leadership has generally agreed with the need for funding and governance reform, disagreements have developed over the details and prospective speed of change.House charts a longer transition In a Thursday press conference, House Democrats shared their desire to delegate the creation of new school district maps, drawing out the transition to a consolidated public school system until summer 2029. That timeline is two years slower than Scott’s proposal.Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, listens to discussion on the floor of the Senate at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, March 25. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger“Creating these new districts must be done right, must be done carefully and thoughtfully by the right people,” said Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, chair of the House Education Committee. His committee’s proposed legislation, still in draft form, would task a team of education stakeholders with devising at most three possible configurations to present to lawmakers next year. “There have been calls for us legislators to draw these lines now in the compressed time we have,” Conlon said. “And it’s tempting, but the chance of unintended consequences that would just have to be corrected and changed in the next session is too great.”That tactic drew ire from Scott, who alluded in a Thursday statement to “delayed action” by lawmakers. Amanda Wheeler, a spokesperson, later confirmed the governor was referencing the House’s plan. “I will not support adjourning this session without a bill to transition to a new funding system, establish a new governance structure that unlocks transformation, and includes a specific implementation timeline,” Scott said in the statement. Wheeler, his spokesperson, said it was too early to say how Scott could keep lawmakers in Montpelier, whether by holding up the state budget or “other tools in the toolbox.”Yet while House Democrats may want to slow down changes to school governance, they’ve taken up other approaches targeting cost savings and expanded student opportunities. The House Ways and Means Committee is developing its own foundation formula, an education funding model that pays school districts based on the number of students they enroll and those students’ needs. Scott’s team unveiled their version of the formula earlier this session, and there’s broad consensus across party lines that Vermont will change how it funds education in the future — the question is how and how soon. Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, the committee’s chair, said Thursday an ideal foundation formula “guarantees opportunities consistently from school to school. That is something that we do not have right now in Vermont.” The change in funding wouldn’t occur until the state moved to new, larger districts, she said, combining governance change with finance change. The House tax-writing committee also intends to adopt a proposal from Scott to simplify Vermont’s property tax credit system, Kornheiser said. READ MORE Gov. Phil Scott’s ‘education transformation’ bill hits the Legislature, all 176 pages of it by Ethan Weinstein February 25, 2025, 6:58 pmFebruary 25, 2025, 6:58 pm House Education has chosen to more immediately address education costs and quality through establishing average class size minimums. Too-small classrooms, some argue, inhibit student learning, and statewide regulation could catalyze school consolidation where there are too few students to hit benchmarks. The Vermont Superintendents Association has also recommended a version of class size and school size minimums. “It may not sound like a big step, but it is,” Conlon said at the press conference. “Class size minimums could have a significant impact on the staffing needs of schools while providing better classroom experiences for kids.” Conlon’s committee faces a Friday deadline to vote out their reform package. Gov. Phil Scott listens to a question during his weekly press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, Feb. 12. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSenate Education’s faster approachOn the Senate side, lawmakers have focused on school governance.Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Education Committee, is the only lawmaker to put forward his own proposal for new, larger school districts to weigh against the administration’s five district plan. In a Thursday interview, he said the Legislature needs to draw district lines and create the structure of an education funding foundation formula before the end of the session. “Not getting that done this year does set the process back significantly, and that’s concerning,” Bongartz said. Scott’s plan has called for voting on board members for the proposed new school districts in November 2026, a timeline more in line with the Senate’s current thrust. For him, time is of the essence because the status quo has resulted in districts cutting staff to keep tax increases at bay. Those cuts, he fears, affect the kids who need the most support. “Kids are getting hurt, and they’re going to get hurt more every year if we don’t really figure out the structural reform,” Bongartz said. His map — which creates nine larger districts — preserves school choice where it already exists with a few exceptions while combining many neighboring districts that currently operate public schools for all grades. The House, meanwhile, has workshopped far more stringent reductions of school choice. Unlike his House counterparts, Bongartz is skeptical of average class-size minimums. “I am loath to have a one-size-fits-all approach dictated by this body,” he said. “’I’d just rather get there in a different way.”While the Senate and House differences presage a coming conflict, Scott has suggested a combination of the two differing paths — the Senate’s maps and the House’s finance ideas — could produce the intended results. “I’m encouraged to see something moving. I’m more encouraged with the Senate. They seem to be somewhat ahead of the House,” the governor said at his weekly press conference on Wednesday, adding that the Legislature may soon pick up steam. “We may be closer than we think.”Read the story on VTDigger here: House and Senate education reform plans diverge as Gov. Phil Scott demands swift action. ...read more read less