Only moments after the newest education-reform bill, H.955, emerged from a 7-4 party-line vote in the House Education Committee, Gov. Phil Scott said it was dead-on-arrival. He prefers his original proposal, which was to consolidate the state’s 119 school districts into five. What he forgets is that almost no one, outside of his administration, agreed with him. Nor did he bother to take his proposal, district-to-district, to rally community support.

There’s a reason he didn’t: he would have gotten an earful, and he didn’t want to face the rancor. Yet, this week, he says the proposal that was thoroughly vetted in all four corners of the state in dozens of meetings with over 5,000 Vermonters participating isn’t what the state needs. He maintains that the carefully selected task force, with some members chosen by the governor and who spent four months researching the issue, was out-of-touch with reality.

Unfortunately, it’s the opposite. Everyone agrees the cost of education in Vermont is high, but Vermonters have made it known that drastic consolidation and forced school mergers isn’t the answer. The House and Senate Education committees listened, battled over different paths to take, and crafted a compromise proposal that makes significant progress, while avoiding public animosity and resistance that could cause lasting harm to the state’s academic outcomes.

That’s smart leadership.

Under H.955, the state would form seven CESAs. The process requires each district to consider the pros and cons of school consolidation and explain their decision in writing. Consolidation would be a decision reached by each district, rather than mandated, and remains an ongoing option. The CESA model is a compromise that has achieved significant cost savings in the several states who have adopted it.

Is it the most effective way to cut costs to the bone? No. If Scott were king, he could cram all 119 districts into five, slash teachers and administrators, bus children for hours, break the bond between school and community and pretend that maximizing dollars saved is preferable to a school system rooted in community with parental support and involvement.

That he chooses to draw that line in the sand and threaten his veto, may suggest why the state has witnessed such decline this past decade.

As Rep. Peter Conlon says in today’s front-page story, if the governor wants to force consolidation, he’s got to lead the charge. “He’s the only one who can do that.” He hasn’t done it because he’s more comfortable chanting his affordability mantra from his office, rather than try to make something more realistic work in each school district.