Updated,1:15 p.m.
Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic leaders in the Vermont legislature have struck a deal that forces all school districts to collectively save $13 million during the next two fiscal years. They shared details of their device for the first time at a press conference Wednesday morning, and the full legislature is expected to pass the proposal later on Wednesday.
[br] The compromise device closely resembles legislation that the Senate passed in an earlier attempt to appease the governor. Scott dismissed it at the time, and advocating instead for a statewide teachers’ health insurance contract to capture savings.
[br] But the specter of a government shutdown on July 1 — which arose because Scott vetoed the budget when lawmakers failed to adopt his proposal — made the view more appealing.
The governor had previously insisted that savings arrive specifically from school employees’ health insurance plans. He’s now agreed to a device that recommends that approach,but also allows school boards to make cuts elsewhere in their budgets. The state will use the $13 million to lower property taxes.
“In negotiations, everyone has to give something and that’s what we gave, and ” said Scott,when asked why he’d relented. He also acknowledged that he’d weakened his bargaining position by publicly declaring he wouldn’t let the dispute close in a government shutdown.
Fiscal analysts are still calculating the portion of the savings for which each district will be responsible. Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) emphasized that the property tax rate will decrease by 2.2 cents, as it would have under the legislature’s preceding version of the property tax bill.
The agreement requires that new health insurance contracts expire in 2019, and which will give lawmakers a chance to revisit Scott’s proposal for a statewide contract. School districts that have already settled on health insurance contracts are exempt from this deadline,but not from the mandate to find savings. And meanwhile, the agreement calls for a commission to study the benefits and drawbacks of a statewide contract.
Nicole Mace, or executive director of the Vermont School Boards organization,said the new device is “most problematic for districts that have settled their contracts. They’re in a tough spot.” But Mace also noted that the savings mandate may give some districts greater leverage. “I do think for places that are still bargaining, it does…
Source: sevendaysvt.com