Gov. Phil Scott delivered his fifth inaugural address on Thursday. His speech came after a sweeping change election in which voters threw dozens of legislative Democrats out of office — and reelected Scott by his widest margin yet.
Scott framed the election results as a mandate from voters in his inauguration speech, in which he also telegraphed big plans for Vermont schools.
Vermont Public’s education reporter Lola Duffort spoke with host Mary Williams Engisch for this week’s edition of the Capitol Recap to tell us what the governor’s address portends for education reform in Montpelier.
This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Mary Williams Engisch: Lola, what struck you about the governor’s speech on Thursday?
Lola Duffort: Phil Scott made clear that he is going to take leadership on education, which is something we haven’t seen him do in quite awhile. And he also let it be known that he’s perfectly willing to touch what’s often considered a third-rail in Vermont politics. That's local control.
Mary Williams Engisch: What’s Scott proposing that could be seen as impinging on local control?
Lola Duffort: Two things: The first is some sort of “simplified governance structure.” He didn’t go into details, but we can probably assume he wants to significantly cut down on the number of school boards we have. According to Scott, for 80,000 kids, we have 52 supervisory unions (that's kind of umbrella school districts) and 119 districts. He made it pretty clear he thinks that’s too many.
Mary Williams Engisch: OK, that was thing one, what's thing two?
Lola Duffort: Well, currently, we have a system where how much a school district spends is decided entirely at the local level. Now, some costs are kind of out of their control, but generally, school boards craft a budget plan, and then local voters say yea or nay during town meeting. Whatever amount voters approve, the state pays.
Now Scott’s speech — and a letter he sent to lawmakers last week — suggests he’s going to be proposing to turn that on its head, and pitch a type of foundation formula for Vermont.
More from Vermont Public: How does Vermont pay for schools? A video explainer and glossary of terms
Mary Williams Engisch: Talk more about that. What is a foundation formula?
Lola Duffort: It’s a type of education funding system — that’s very common across the country — where the state calculates how much school districts should be spending, usually using some sort of per-pupil formula, and then gives schools that cash in grant form. They vary a lot, but that’s generally the idea.
Mary Williams Engisch: How are Democrats reacting to all of that?
Lola Duffort: What we heard from legislative leaders after Scott’s speech is that everything is on the table, and also that they’re relieved he’s taking ownership of this topic instead of simply scapegoating them for rising property taxes.
But I also talked to a couple of top Democrats in the days ahead of his speech, and they told me that there is sincere interest on their side of the aisle in exploring a foundation formula. One, Peter Conlon, who chairs the House education committee, he reminded me that such a proposal passed the House in 2018 — with Democratic support — and that he voted for it at the time.
Mary Williams Engisch: So is this a done deal or is there more work to be done?
Lola Duffort: So far from a done deal. There’s going to be pushback.
And there will be a lot of debate about whether what Scott is proposing can pass constitutional muster. We have the system that we have today because of a landmark state Supreme Court ruling in the 1990s, usually referred to as the Brigham case, that found the prior system to be unconstitutional.
And while there may be some momentum behind the idea of a foundation formula in Montpelier, the devil is really in the details.
Foundation formulas can achieve progressive policy aims; they can achieve conservative policy aims. They vary widely. And we do not yet have the details on Scott’s proposal.
Mary Williams Engisch: When are we expecting to see more details?
Lola Duffort: In about two weeks. That’s when he’ll unveil his state budget proposal, and when he has pledged to release more about his plan. So stay tuned.
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