Lola Duffort

Gov. Phil Scott supports the legislation, but it remains unclear whether it will garner enough support to pass in the House and Senate next Monday.

An informal survey of lawmakers across political and geographical lines reveals significant angst over a still-developing reform plan that many say represents the most important vote of their legislative careers.

House and Senate negotiators tasked with finding a path on education reform didn't talk about funding, governance or taxes this week. They fought over scheduling.

Tech industry lobbyists are urging Gov. Phil Scott to veto the bill, and claim the legislation would violate the First Amendment.

Marathon talks over a potentially historic reform package failed to yield a compromise, and Vermont lawmakers postponed adjournment until mid-June to give negotiators more time to work.

It looked like reform efforts might implode completely earlier in the week, when Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth announced Tuesday that a majority of Democrats would not support the bill that his chamber’s leaders had crafted. But Thursday morning, he gave members of his caucus an ultimatum.

Senate Democrats met Tuesday evening for a remarkably candid — and public — airing of ambivalence, anger, and anxiety about legislation they had scheduled for a floor vote on Wednesday morning.

“I can’t ever remember feeling as bad about a vote as I do on this one,” Sen. Ann Cummings, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told her colleagues after voting to advance the education reform bill Thursday. “But it will move us forward.”

Statewide, Vermont has already invested $37.5 million into PCB testing and remediation, and just a little over $3 million is left. More than half of all schools that fall under the state's mandate haven't even been tested yet.

Negotiations stretched well into the night. The Vermont-NEA announced that a deal had been reached in a short statement released just after midnight.