Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Speaker 0]: Welcome back to House Education, April 2. We are closing in on our vote on our committee bill. We're going to move along with alacrity because the goal is that we could be done here. It will go to final editing and then be introduced on the floor so it can continue its journey to ways and means and to appropriations. So I guess I would ask if there's anything legislative council would like to point out to us, and then I would ask the committee if there's anything they would like to ask legislative council.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: Beth St. James, Office of Legislative Counsel. I'm just having some trouble logging into Zoom. One thing I did wanna just make sure that I understand correctly is and I can show you the places as soon as I get in that I made changes.

[Speaker 0]: I guess both of you would like to go down to the list. Just make sure that

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: We're on draft 10.1.

[Committee Assistant (unidentified)]: So that will

[Speaker 0]: You go ahead. You go ahead, Beth. It is.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: So the big change of moving Orleans Southwest, I did that. I just wanna

[Speaker 0]: Hey, Kate. That's what it is.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: On the map. Hold on.

[Speaker 0]: I'm

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: pulling up your the map that you had made of the overlay. So this is New Orleans Southwest. And so that was a part of a different district. And now you want it to be a part of this district, correct?

[Speaker 0]: That group, yeah.

[Unidentified Member]: Okay. Wait, sorry. Have a question about that. You wanted to be part of that CISA, but were we recommending that's my question. In a different district? I don't think we're recommending anything in a different district.

[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: I thought that's what we're discussing.

[Rep. Kate McCann (Member)]: That's my understanding yesterday, after we were moving a lot of stuff around, we said we're going to just honor the lines of the CISOs and honor the lines of the supervisory district and let the local decisions with the facilitators jump across the lines. So that's why we moved Cal co op back into the burnt orange area instead of the blue, and why we were going move that in with the brown.

[Speaker 0]: Yeah, it was all part of the philosophy of respecting supervisor union lines.

[Rep. Kate McCann (Member)]: And then the facilitator, when they get together, they may decide they need to go across that CSA line to have the study group and make that change at their level. I understood that.

[Speaker 0]: So you're saying that- Well, yes, understand.

[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: You have the Brown to the right of it, it's those six blue. Is that supposed to be part of the Brown?

[Speaker 0]: Yes.

[Unidentified Member]: I believe so.

[Speaker 0]: Part

[Unidentified Member]: of the Brown CISA, not part of the Brown District.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: Yes, part

[Rep. Kate McCann (Member)]: of the district.

[Speaker 0]: Yes, this is one of the ones where we were saying, me just remember what our philosophy was when we were making these lines. We were respecting SU lines and trying to respect where those SUs were located within the CSIP. Always reminding ourselves that once a facilitator is on the ground trying to pull together groupings, the map is guidance only, and that if there is a better group to work together, they have the ability to make that happen.

[Unidentified Member]: Right, no, I understand that, but I feel like we're maybe interchangeably using the word CISA and district things loop right now in ways that we didn't intend to. So the blue Oh, wait, what is it shaped like? The blue axe, like a tomahawk, let's say that. This blue tomahawk is in the brown and purple CISA, but we're not necessarily suggesting that as consolidations take place, that they happen to join the Brown District. You're nodding your head that we are or you're not saying?

[Speaker 0]: No, no, no, no, What we are saying is that when the local facilitator gets on the ground, that they may find, it will show up in the groupings of recommended merger study committees, it will show up as all Brown. The reason we, and this is one where there's a number of spots here where it is going to require on the facilitator's part, a meeting of the folks to say, this is not the right groupings, and that it needs to be adjusted this way, and we have made clear in our language that they have the ability to pivot as needed.

[Unidentified Member]: Okay, because I thought that we had said that the district we were recommending was actually going to be District 13 for that.

[Speaker 0]: I would say that we had. Yeah. Yes. And that's why the coloring looks that way. Okay. But the coloring will change because we are trying to respect CSAT and SU lines in the beginning, so it would be easier to explain. So, in other words, there's no it's not mandating a merger study committee until a facilitator has gone in there and talked with everybody about whether that group is correct or should be adjusted. It is, it is, and this one in particular, because we've sort of gone back and forth about who actually wants to get together with who. So, continue playing along.

[Unidentified Member]: So we made the change to In the

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: TLC, this is a new draft, so we're on page seven. The Windham Southwest Supervisor Union now, I hope, has the right. Okay. Yes. So we've made that change. Okay. Yep. You did.

[Unidentified Member]: And then I guess we jump right into section 14.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: Page 32.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: Before you move on.

[Speaker 0]: I left Alex Somers.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: Oh, I probably did because it's not listed in the Vermont Education Directory.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: Because there was only one student the last time you met. Probably what? Who knows? I

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: will make that change. And if it doesn't get made, then ways and means make it. The bill is being formatted for introduction right now.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: I wanted to make sure all the towns as you were named.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: And Somerset is part of what supervisor union?

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, the same one you just made changes to.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: I've made the change to group twelve. I've kind of out the Orleans, whatever, Orleans Southwest, and added them to group sixteen.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: Yes. Here we go.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: And then I removed the Erin Twinfield Unified School District from group 21. And those are the only changes I had.

[Speaker 0]: Does that track? That tracks for me. Okay. Right here. Then you added in just the who the quarterly reports go to, I see.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: Yep. Page the quarterly reports are going to the money committees, the approves committees, the education committees. And then I had to do some really awkward drafting on page 18 in your contingency sections. Page 18? Sorry, 39, section 18. We're trying to refer to the bill you are working in, but we are amending language that lives in another bill. So we can't refer to this bill. So I had to describe it. This is what we do when we're referring to the budget. Pursuant to legislation and act about a general assembly in 2026 that requires each school board to participate on a study committee to study the advisability of forming a unified union school district. That should signal that you are talking about this bill. And I made the same change, the corresponding change in subsection G of section 18, and no other changes.

[Speaker 0]: Everybody, are people feeling prepared for the vote? Yes.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: So I'm gonna make draft 10.2, so there's no confusion, and I will add Somerset. You need take the vote.

[Speaker 0]: Here we go. Draft 10.2.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: I'm just gonna flip the caveat that for some reason, I can't find the Somerset listed for any bigger.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: I know. That was the that's why I

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: got And I went on the app and Google it just now, and I'd still I found somebody saying it was Windham Central. And it's not Windham Central. I never had it done because so just look at it and try to I don't know, you'll find a better way.

[Beth St. James (Legislative Counsel)]: You don't rely on the good people of YouTube to email you all.

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: Yeah. That's a great idea.

[Speaker 0]: Thank you. And I just reminded the committee that this does this has two other stops. If there are little technical things that we find out, they can be corrected at that stage along the way. Josh.

[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: I just want say before we vote that the last week or so, I feel like we've collaborated and worked together better on this than we have all year. I kind of wish that we would have had this kind of collaboration in January. I know we all do. And for me, there are misses in this. I feel like we're not actually providing the relief that our taxpayers want in a timely fashion. And, you know, they also ask for, you know, more equitable educational opportunities. I don't see this doing that in a timely fashion either. And those are just some of my concerns, but I do wanna say thank you all for, like, what was a noticeable collaboration over the last week that I don't feel that I've seen so far this year. So thank you all.

[Speaker 0]: Yeah. Thank you. Before we vote, I would just echo a fair bit of that. And just to say, I just look at my own journey and evolution through this. If you remember, I put on the table a map with forced mergers. Depending on how you want to interpret what that meant, Didn't really get a lot of love, which was the point, was to put on the table and have us talk about it. But I would say, sort of thinking about the thousands of survey responses that we received from the Commission on Future Public Education, many emails we received since then, the comments from testimony that we have had. But more importantly, the input from everybody here. My feelings and thoughts have evolved and fears of what the future would hold under various scenarios. And so I think you can all take some ownership in many of the changes that we moved along here, whether you vote yes or you vote no. And I do as well. Really appreciate that. So I very good about our work, but I would say that for the field and school districts and Vermonters out there, We are respecting, I think very much so, the different ways we deliver education in Vermont. We are respecting local voice. We are respecting an aversion to forced mergers at the state level. However, I personally believe that a foundation formula is in our future, and that what we are providing here is sort of the opportunity for Vermont to think about that future, make the adjustments that they need to make in order to adjust to that future, and I just hope that they take advantage of it. I fear that if not, school districts may be ill prepared to adjust to whatever future funding happens in Vermont. Anyway, that's my final comment, but mostly filled with deep, deep appreciation for everybody here and their contributions. All right, let's call the roll. So,

[Committee Assistant (unidentified)]: Representative Brady? Yes. Representative Brown? Yes. Representative Dobrovich?

[Rep. Joshua Dobrovich (Member)]: No. Representative Harple? Yes. Representative Hunter?

[Speaker 0]: Yes.

[Committee Assistant (unidentified)]: Representative Emily Long? Yes. Representative Case Long? Yes. Representative McCann?

[Rep. Kate McCann (Member)]: Yes. Representative Morgan? No. Representative Quimby? No.

[Committee Assistant (unidentified)]: Chair Conlon?

[Speaker 0]: Yes.

[Committee Assistant (unidentified)]: Alright, seven or zero. Alright folks, we did it.

[Speaker 0]: Thank you all very much. Now we just have to fill up the agenda for

[Rep. Emily Long (Member)]: a couple of days.

[Speaker 0]: All right, we will break there. Just hang on one second while also expressing deep, deep appreciation for our ever fast working, let's say, capital.