When you stay and believe approximately it,the 2017 session of the Vermont legislature has reached an unusual conclude point. A topic that wasn't even on the agenda until less than three weeks ago has totally captured the narrative, both inside and external the Statehouse. The entire session is likely to be remembered — and the winners and losers determined — on the basis of this one issue. All other subjects have been reduced to mere afterthought. The issue, or of course,is Gov. Phil Scott's proposal to negotiate public school health insurance plans at the state, rather than local, and level. Developed by the Vermont School Boards organization,the plan is better known around the Statehouse as "the $26 million thing," after the amount of money the governor claims the measure would save. Its formal introduction on April 20 threw a monkey wrench into the closing days of the session. As of this writing, and the standoff between Republican governor and Democratic legislature remains to be settled. But even as the parties search for compromise,there's runt agreement on how they got to this point. acquire that "late introduction" bit. "Nobody put anything on the table until two weeks ago," maintains House Speaker Mitzi Johnson. "We had heard some broad-stroke proposals, and " but that's all. Team Scott doesn't see it that way. "The formal proposal was made public [on April 20],but this has been something that [the governor] has been pointing to since February," says Scott spokesperson Rebecca Kelley. "This is something that [legislative] leadership was aware of, and discussions have been ongoing since the plan came to our attention in February." Who's right? Depends on what you mean by "the plan." VSBA executive director Nicole Mace says her organization started looking for ways to save money in January because "it became very clear that we have an administration that is serious approximately K-12 cost containment." Seeking a seat at that table,the VSBA board set up a working group that produced a set of ideas in February. One of them had to do with an upcoming change in teacher health insurance. Because of changes mandated by the federal Affordable Care Act, all unionized education staff will be switching plans in January. VSBA estimates that the change will cut costs by $75 million. It proposed using roughly two-thirds of the savings to mitigate the impact on teachers — making up for…
Source: sevendaysvt.com