A major concession from Gov. Phil Scott this week could help clear the path to bipartisan compromise on a sweeping education reform package.
The Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers had been at loggerheads over whether to force school district mergers — a central component of a 2025 law that seeks to change the way Vermont governs and funds public schools.
As recently as last week, Scott said he would veto any bill that didn’t include mandatory consolidation.
The governor has now withdrawn that demand, according to his director of policy, Jason Maulucci. Maulucci told Vermont Public on Thursday that it’s become clear that Democratic majorities in the House and Senate cannot be moved off their opposition to forced mergers.
“I don’t think anyone represents a district that says, ‘Go for it. Merge my schools.’”Washington County Sen. Ann Cummings
“We are open to entertaining an alternate path that is closer to the Legislature’s position,” Maulucci said, as long as that path helps the state to transition to a new funding system.
Under the “foundation formula,” passed as part of the 2025 law, the state would assign each district an education grant, instead of leaving spending decisions up to local boards.
That shift is designed to slow growth in education spending, but it could slash the amount of money available to some districts. Both Democratic lawmakers and the governor say districts will need to operate at far greater scale in order to survive the new fiscal constraints.
Democratic leaders want to let districts achieve those economies of scale voluntarily.
“I don’t think anyone represents a district that says, ‘Go for it. Merge my schools,’” said Washington County Sen. Ann Cummings, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
Democratic lawmakers and administration officials are hoping to shake hands on a final reform package that could come as soon as Friday night, but they had several outstanding issues to settle.
Maulucci said that, in the absence of forced mergers, lawmakers need to devise a way for districts left out of voluntary mergers to join larger districts, if they choose.
“The governor’s fear is lower-income districts, districts that have sharply declining enrollment … might not find a partner to merge with, but they may want to merge because they understand that in a new funding context, they need to be at scale,” he said.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth said his chamber is drafting language that would allow “orphan” districts to petition to join a larger district.
The timeline has also been a sticking point. Democratic lawmakers now want to wait until 2030 to implement the foundation formula, arguing that voluntary mergers will take longer than forced ones.
The governor, according to Maulucci, is pushing for 2029. He said Scott’s support also depends on lawmakers either eliminating contingencies that need to be met for the foundation formula to take effect, or, failing that, committing to a different method for reining in costs if the formula does not come to pass.
After seeing lawmakers walk away from mandatory consolidation, Maulucci said, Scott is worried a future Legislature will think better of the foundation formula.
“There need to be default cost-containment and long-term relief if nothing is done,” he said.
With adjournment on the horizon, Democratic leaders and the administration have until early next week to settle their differences. If they can’t strike a deal, and lawmakers move forward with a bill the governor does not support, Maulucci said Scott is still prepared to prevent the state budget from going into law until Democrats pass a plan he deems acceptable.
