Republican Gov. Phil Scott is threatening to keep the part-time Legislature in Montpelier through the summer if they don’t pass legislation that requires school districts to merge into larger governance units.

Lawmakers learned that the conservation measures they enacted in Act 181 “were alienating rural landowners and were not the right tool for the job,” said Rep. Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury.

The House Committee on Ways and Means has spent the last three weeks crafting proposals that would raise income taxes on households that earn more than $586,000 a year. Though the legislation has no chance of becoming law this year, some Democrats hope the debate will resonate with voters heading into the midterm elections.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott says he won’t let a state budget go into law unless the Legislature approves an education reform bill that includes mandatory school district consolidation. House lawmakers have refused to budge on forced mergers, and they've begun preparing for a government shutdown over the issue.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate were in lockstep on mandatory school district consolidation heading into the 2026 legislative session. House Speaker Jill Krowinski says it’s since become clear that while voters are desperate for property tax relief, they’re not willing to sacrifice control of their local schools to get it.

Last year, in the wake of controversial, patient-facing cuts at the University of Vermont Health network, lawmakers passed a new law. They said regulators would get to intervene if they didn’t think hospitals should shutter a service. But now, barely a year later, lawmakers are already second-guessing that decision.

Democratic leaders say they don't have the votes to move forward with mandatory school district consolidation. And they say it's become clear to them that Vermonters don't want it.

Act 181 and its ecological conservation measures emerged from this week’s Senate debates delayed but intact. Heated debates are likely to continue in the House.

Buying down property taxes with one-time money comes with the risk of creating a spike the following cycle. But Gov. Phil Scott has indicated he'll pressure Democrats to use even more one-time cash to lower next year's property taxes.

With a key legislative deadline looming, lawmakers raced to get key policy bills out of committees this week.