Lola Duffort

Simply taxing second homes at a higher rate is not so simple, in part because Vermont currently has no system for categorizing vacation homes. But lawmakers are trying to change that — with the House's sweeping education reform bill.

Labor negotiations are souring in Rutland City schools, where the school board has just rejected the recommendations of an independent fact-finder's report. Board members argue the report was flawed — and unaffordable for taxpayers. The union says the district's teachers are among the lowest-paid in the region.

The college has shared little about the students in question, their immigration status, or their circumstances. But officials have suggested these events fit a pattern evident in a nationwide crackdown on foreign students.

Vermont’s reply is not quite as defiant as the response issued by New York, which bluntly refused to provide any certification. But the legal analysis included in Vermont’s letter to federal officials echoes what several blue states have used in their replies to the Trump administration’s directive.

For Republicans, H.454 moves too slowly and does not sufficiently contain costs. And for many rural Democrats, the legislation is unacceptably hostile to the state’s smaller schools. But enough lawmakers held their nose Friday to advance the bill on to the Senate and keep education reform on track in Montpelier.

With millions of dollars under threat, Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders instructed the state’s superintendents on Friday evening to individually certify compliance with a new directive from the Trump administration purporting to ban “illegal D.E.I.” But by Monday evening, after concerted pushback, Saunders had reversed course.

The events, called “Hands Off,” were organized separately as part of a decentralized effort by a variety of activist groups. The groups claimed to have 1,000 protests planned across the country.

The Vermont House advanced a state budget plan this week that relies on hundreds of millions in federal funding that many fear could evaporate in an instant. Also this week: The feds abruptly announced they would hold back any remaining pandemic recovery funds to schools. Tariffs, meanwhile, could cost Vermonters $1 billion — and then some.

A state official told lawmakers Wednesday they estimated school districts statewide had about $16.7 million in collective exposure.

The state began scrutinizing the school last spring, after former educators went to the state — and the press — with allegations that the school’s leaders had fired them for raising concerns internally about I.N.S.P.I.R.E.’s practices.