VERNON — By Nov. 1, according to the text of legislation introduced into the Vermont House of Representatives, merger with adjoining school districts shall have been discussed by every school board in Vermont. By Dec. 1, voting on whether to pursue a merger - whether “to perform a more comprehensive analysis of potential merger,” according to the text of the legislation - shall have been completed by every school board in Vermont.
Representatives and senators usually introduce bills during the first month of a legislative session, when each receives first reading and is referred to the appropriate standing committee of the house or senate. Everyone can consult the online Legislative Bill Tracking System to find and study bills that interest or concern them, then begin or join a public debate that is timely and thorough.
Instead, H.782 was quietly introduced on March 17 in the House Committee on Education while members were considering another, quite different bill, H.755, that had been introduced in the customary manner and then died in this committee.
This 36-page major bill certainly is among the most complex pieces of legislation of this legislative session, yet it has been introduced and is to be debated and voted on by representatives and senators while they are rushing to complete all of their work by the end of April.
Legislation profoundly affecting every Vermonter in every town, having provisions and implications that certainly have not been fully considered and understood, is being rushed into law.
Rush to local judgment?
Said to be “voluntary,” H.782 certainly is not grassroots.
Instead of acting because a majority of families, voters, and taxpayers want them to, all school boards everywhere in Vermont will be acting not spontaneously, but simultaneously by legislative mandate while also fulfilling their usual important responsibilities and duties.
Moreover, since each school district adjoins several other districts, school boards and towns will be required to conduct several merger discussions at the same time, and families, voters, and taxpayers will be required to consider, compare, and understand them fully at the same time.
Decisions profoundly affecting every Vermonter in every town, having provisions and implications that certainly have not been fully considered and understood, are being rushed.
Is there any reason to hurry?
In The Governance of Education in Vermont - 1777 to 2006 (May 2006), former Commissioner of Education Winston H. Cate proposed merger and consolidation of 284 Vermont school districts, including 311 schools and 246 municipalities, into 63 districts as a starting point for a public discussion that he invited Vermonters to join.
In School District Consolidation, prepared for Rep. Peter Peltz (D-Lamoille-Washington-1), who introduced H.782 on March 17, the University of Vermont Legislative Research Shop stated that “[t]he most important issues surrounding district consolidation are whether it actually saves money and its impact on the quality of education.”
With population densities ranging from 283 people per square mile in Chittenden County to 10 per square mile in Essex County, a statewide best way of addressing these most important issues is unlikely.
Is there any reason to act?
“The extant research on school consolidation finds that: School consolidation produces less fiscal benefit and greater fiscal cost than it promises,” according to the Legislative Research Shop report. “While some costs, particularly administrative costs, may decline in the short run, they are replaced by other expenditures, especially transportation and more specialized staff. The loss of a school also negatively affects the tax base and fiscal capacity of the district. These costs are often borne disproportionately by low-income and minority communities.”
Rep. Peltz and his colleagues should explain why, after they considered these reports and issues during three to four years, they want Vermonters to consider them, H.782, and their consequences for us, our families and our communities, and take action, all before Dec. 1.