Historic education bill passes — with many loose ends

The Vermont Legislature on Monday passed the year’s landmark education reform package, setting in motion years of transformation to the state’s public school and property tax systems.

After a drawn-out day of disagreements and false starts, the Vermont Legislature this past Friday bailed on its plan to wrap up business for the year, failing to come to a deal, at least for now, on this year’s landmark education reform bill.

Valley Vista, the state’s largest substance use disorder treatment provider, will shut its Vergennes women’s facility by the end of the month and consolidate all patients at its Bradford location. The closure will result in the loss of 20 jobs.

State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s 52 school districts to just 5 and a new funding formula.

The Vermont Senate on Tuesday approved H.871, a bill that will continue the process of establishing a state aid for school construction program. 

Voters struck down close to a third of school budgets across Vermont on Tuesday, the highest proportion in at least a decade, according to the Vermont Superintendents Association. 

Lawmakers are now talking about replacing a controversial cap on homestead property tax rates with a new tax “discount” that would apply only to districts losing tax capacity.

With the support of the Vermont Agency of Transportation, on-demand microtransit programs will launch next year in Middlebury and four other communities across the state.

Gov. Phil Scott signed two key pieces of legislation Tuesday meant to address the state’s housing crisis.