Vermont is nearing the traditional end point of its legislative calendar. Adjournment at the Statehouse in Montpelier was tentatively scheduled for the end of the month, but there’s a lot left to settle before the state’s part-time lawmakers head home.
Gov. Phil Scott says he's sticking to his promise at the outset of the session to veto the state budget unless lawmakers pass a bill requiring significant school district consolidation. He joined Vermont Edition today to discuss education reform and other legislative issues.
Education reform
The most pressing topic this session concerns Vermont's education system. Last year's passage of a historic education reform law, Act 73, called for forced school district consolidation. This session, Democratic lawmakers have coalesced around a framework for voluntary school mergers, which the governor says he will not accept.
His original proposal was to cut Vermont's school districts from 119 to five, but now he says that his administration is working with House and Senate leadership and "looking for a number somewhere in between."
Scott noted that while Vermont has far fewer students than it did 30 years ago, school structures and personnel numbers have largely stayed the same. "I'm looking to do whatever we can to get to a point where we have districts that are much larger than they are today," he said.
Return to office
The Scott administration issued a return-to-office order for state employees last year. The order was sharply criticized by the state employees' union and overturned by the Vermont Labor Relations Board. The administration is now appealing to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Scott said that he remains committed to his mandate, and requiring state employees to be in the office three days a week rather than all five strikes a fair balance. "I'd say the vast amount of Vermonters are saying, 'why not five?'" he said.
The Vermont Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for next month.
“I think it’s the best approach," he said, "but at the end of the day, we’ll have to wait and see what the Supreme Court says. If they find that our approach is not right, then we will adhere to that.”
Act 181
An effort to update and reform the state's land-use law was also on many Vermonters' minds this session. Act 181 was intended to relax regulations in populated centers and impose more regulations on rural parts of the state in efforts to conserve wild land. This sparked some serious backlash from people in rural areas and led to a partial repeal of the law.
Scott, who vetoed Act 181, said that while there are good pieces to Act 181, work should have been done over the last two years to relax regulations for building new housing.
"I thought it was just more conserving land in the rural areas of the state and protecting those in the urban areas," he said. "I don't think we're doing them justice by passing that law, but I was overridden, and it had to be put into place."
Broadcast live on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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