The Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday granting a one-year extension to certain school districts facing forced mergers under Act 46.
The legislation is a pared-down version of a proposal to give all districts under order to merge by the state until July 1, 2020, to do so. The blanket one-year delay came at the request of a tripartisan group of legislators, but it did not have the support of the House Education Committee — which crafted the alternate, partial delay proposal — and failed narrowly in the House on Wednesday.
After a lengthy back-and-forth on the House floor on Wednesday, lawmakers quickly dispatched with HB39 on Thursday, voting, 134-10, to approve the committee’s version after less than an hour of debate.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, whose district will get a one-year extension under the committee’s plan, had championed the delay-for-all proposal but nevertheless voted yes on Thursday.
“It just didn’t break our way (on Wednesday), but this is a good place to end up to get it out of the House and then on to the Senate,” she said after the vote.
The handful of lawmakers who did vote against the bill hailed mostly from towns that wouldn’t get a reprieve from it.
“This amendment continues to usurp the democracy of our local communities and school boards,” said Rep. Felisha Leffler, R-Enosburg.
In the Upper Valley the forced merger of the Bradford, Newbury and Oxbow Union High school districts would be pushed back to July 2020 under the House bill.
The Barnard School District would have until July to merge with the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union District, but that could be pushed back until July 2020 if the latter body chooses to delay it.
Dozens of school districts have filed several lawsuits against the state challenging mergers imposed by the State Board of Education. Those asking for a delay have argued that districts shouldn’t be forced to merge before the courts have had a chance to weigh in, and also say the timelines in the end-stage of the law are too tight to allow for complicated work.
The bill divides districts into roughly two camps: those where merger proposals were put before voters at some point, and those where no proposals were ever crafted at all. Operating under the assumption that districts in which local officials never created merger plans had little foundation upon which to consolidate, the committee’s proposal in those instances grants the extra year.
But for many groups working to challenge the mergers, the legislation is less a compromise than an insult.
Margaret MacLean, an anti-merger activist with Vermonters for Schools and Community, says the House Education Committee’s partial delay plan is “designed to punish.”
“If you went to the voters and they voted no the committee says you will be merged ASAP. The Education Committee Amendment sends the message to voters how dare you defy us and vote NO!” she wrote in an email.
A delay for all districts under order to merge still could come from the judicial branch. Superior court Judge Robert Mello has scheduled a hearing on Feb. 15 on a request from plaintiff school districts for an injunction to block mergers while he considers the merits of their case.