Governor Has School Consolidation Blues (VT)

June 4, 2010

What has been perhaps the most persistent area of disagreement between Gov. James Douglas and Democratic lawmakers during his time in office likely ended Thursday, with a whimper rather than a bang.

Douglas, who will leave office in January, allowed a school consolidation bill to become law without signing it, underscoring his dissatisfaction with the legislation, which he called "a timid approach.":

The bill, H.66, encourages school districts to merge by an incentive that would reduce school property taxes and grants to help with such transitions. The hope is that will lead to greater efficiency and less cost for educating Vermont’s students.

But the bill does not go as far as Douglas and some others would have liked. Those who proposed tougher measures pushed for involuntary consolidation of supervisory unions and districts, mandated higher teacher-to-pupil ratios and reduced state aid for small schools.

Douglas said while the measure didn’t do any of those things, he didn’t veto it because it does little to make the school funding situation worse.

"There is nothing really objectionable in the bill, but it doesn’t do much," said Douglas.

But Rep. Peter Peltz, D-Woodbury, a legislator who was instrumental in creating and passing the bill, said that in the past century, 20 attempts to demand consolidation of education districts from Montpelier have not worked.

"They have failed because after they were hatched there was huge local resistance," he said. Instead the measure he championed is designed to help districts – like the one he lives in – consolidate in the way they want to, Peltz said.

"There are good things happening. Let’s work with them," he said. I would be very surprised if this did not take hold and we did not see some serious movement."

"To preserve the quality of schools and make them cost-efficient, we are going to have to do it differently," he said. But "rather than ramming it, we are saying let it work from the bottom up."

Douglas complained the bill might even cost more money because of the incentives offered to school districts. But Peltz said that based on the results of a legislative study of the measure – which requires that applicant districts show they will save money – that is unlikely.

The education consolidation bill is the latest in a long line of disagreements between Douglas and lawmakers over how to deal with school funding. During his eight years in office the governor and legislators have compromised to reach agreement on two major bills on education spending: Changes to Act 68, using sales taxes to supplement education spending, and the so-called two-vote provision, requiring a second vote for parts of some rapidly increasing school budgets. But the lack of changes to education financing and the growing cost of schools even as enrollment is declining were among the issues with the least satisfactory outcomes of his eight years as governor, Douglas said Thursday.

"That’s the area in which I have the greatest disappointment," he said. Unless there are changes, the state may face a $100 million gap in the state’s Education Fund in fiscal year 2012, necessitating perhaps as much as a 10 cent increase in statewide property tax rates, according to Douglas.

"Although we talk about local control, since Act 60 that has really been diminished," Douglas said.

Douglas, who had already signed the Challenges for Change government efficiency bill, said Thursday afternoon he planned on signing the state budget as well. The governor and lawmakers reached a last-minute compromise at the tail end of the legislative session on the budget and tax bills.

There still remain some questions around the state’s budget, however. Although to a much lesser extent that many states, Vermont did include anticipated federal health insurance money in its budget. It is now not clear if that money will be approved soon by Congress, or indeed at all.

Seventeen of his colleagues included that money in their proposed budgets, while by the end of the budget process roughly 30 states included that funding in their budgets, Douglas said. So did Vermont. But unlike many places the funding is included in ancillary portions of the spending plan – for instance to support some of the investments to make the Challenges plan work.

"I was surprised and I think most of my colleagues were surprised that it wasn’t approved," Douglas said. But Vermont, unlike some states "can get along without."

Given the extent to which some states did count on the money, it is likely that the additional federal aid will be approved in the end.

In general he was happy with the tax and budget measures, which included a partial roll-back of capital gains and estate tax increases put in place a year ago.
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"Most other states are increasing taxes," he said.