By Michael Bielawski
Two Democrat lawmakers are offering a 25-school district cap as a counter-proposal to the governor’s five-school district proposal.
H. 122 asks that state law “require the State to provide educational opportunities through the merger of the school districts in existence on July 1, 2025, into not more than 25 newly formed unified union school districts.”
Its sponsors are Rep. Matthew Birong, D-Vergennes, and Rep. Edye Graning, D-Jericho. It was first introduced on the House floor last week. It will be discussed in the House Education Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
The governor and the newly elected Education Secretary Zoei Saunders have recently proposed a five-district model that would have been a dramatic overhaul of the existing 52 supervisory unions.
This 25-district proposal would entail not just public schools but also independent schools.
It would “allow school districts to designate independent schools that meet certain criteria to provide education for students residing in the district who would have to travel more than certain periods of time to attend a public school within the district.”
Various stakeholders would be involved in the development of a final plan. The bill would, “provide a process for review by the Secretary of Education and create the Commission on the Sustainable Realignment of Vermont School Districts to create a final plan for district realignment.”
It states that 25 districts would be a cap.
“Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, on or before July 1, 2030, the State shall provide educational opportunities through the merger of the school districts in existence on July 1, 2025, into not more than 25 newly formed unified union school districts,” it says.
Poor performance and high costs
Vermont’s public education system has been under scrutiny as of late. It is currently facing an estimated $300 million in anticipated annual school infrastructure repairs and updates over the next two decades. This while students’ reading and math performances have been falling, enrollment has been falling, and property taxes (education funding) are still going up.
The governor’s plan
Saunders was recently on VPR where she further detailed her five-district plan.
“The idea for that is actually to be able to ensure that we are able to deliver the appropriate resources to all of our schools in our current construct, our districts often struggle to hire key roles, and they often struggle to have their specialized resources,” she said.
“So what this plan does is it enables us to get the right level of expertise in a region who can provide support to schools in ways that some school districts don’t have those opportunities to access those really important resources,” she said.
Sponsors have background in education
According to Birong’s bio at VtDemocrats, he has been involved in various education ventures.
“In 2018, Matt was the education coordinator between Middlebury College, Reserva Zorzal, and their partner organizations for an immersive study abroad program,” it states.
Birong is on the board of directors for Counseling Services of Addison County, The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Vergennes, and Main Street Alliance of Vermont, in addition to other credentials.
Graning is on the Mount Mansfield Unified Union School District school board. Her bio states, “Early in her career, Edye was working in an at-risk community. It was there that she saw how getting an education – and specifically learning to read – is foundational to moving out of poverty. Since then it has been her mission to ensure that schools are a place where all students belong and have every opportunity to learn.”
Legislators’ contact info
See all bills assigned to this committee here. Constituents may contact committee members (click link on name for bio, party affiliation, etc.) with comments, questions, and information at the following email addresses:
House Education
Peter Conlon, Cornwall, Chair, pconlon@leg.state.vt.us
Chris Taylor, Madison, Vice Chair, cataylor@leg.state.vt.us
Erin Brady, Chittenden District 2, Ranking Member, ebrady@leg.state.vt.us
Jana Brown, Richmond, Clerk, jbrown@leg.state.vt.us
Joshua Dobrovich, Orange-3, jdobrovich@leg.state.vt.us
Leanne Harple, Orleans 4, lharple@leg.state.vt.us
Robert Hunter, Bennington-4, rhunter@leg.state.vt.us
Emily Long, Burlington, elong@leg.state.vt.us
Kate McCann, Washington-4, kmccann@leg.state.vt.us
Beth Quimby, Caledonia-3, bquimby@leg.state.vt.us
Casey Toof, St. Albans City, ctoof@leg.state.vt.us
Senate Education
Seth Bongartz, Manchester, Chair, sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us
David Weeks, Proctor, Vice Chair, dweeks@leg.state.vt.us
Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Montpelier, kraminsdale@leg.state.vt.us
Nader Hashim, Windham, nhashim@leg.state.vt.us
Terry Williams, Rutland, Clerk, tkwilliams@leg.state.vt.us
Steven Heffernan, Addison, sheffernan@leg.state.vt.us
All committee transcripts are available at www.goldendomevt.com. Committee meeting video available at the committee’s YouTube channel. The committee meets in the morning in Room 8.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle