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by Representative Heidi E Scheuermann, R-Stowe The Vermont General Assembly returned to Montpelier January 9 ready to get to work. In 2017, Vermont House Speaker, Mitzi Johnson, determined (correctly, in my view) that a standing committee in the House was needed to focus solely on energy and technology issues facing our state. Prior to this time, these critical issues were the jurisdiction of other committees whose work encompassed other significant issues like the environment and economic development in general.
As such, energy and technology items didn't receive the proper attention. While during its first biennium this new committee faced some growing pains, I am very pleased that the Speaker appointed me to it this year, and am excited to work diligently on one of the priorities of our Stowe community, and the state in general - the issue of ensuring high quality, reliable cell phone and broadband coverage. It is absolutely critical to our state's economic growth to put into place policies that will ensure coverage is developed and deployed broadly, efficiently, and effectively.
The other item on which I am focusing much of my effort at this time is the invalidation of the forced mergers which were part of Act 46, including the Stowe-EMUU merger. I am pleased that there is a tri-partisan group of legislators - legislators from across the political spectrum - who share my concerns about these involuntary mergers put into place by the State Board of Education, and we are working together diligently to educate our colleagues of these concerns.
The first goal is to obtain a delay in the July 1, 2019 merger deadline. Toward that end, I have two pieces of legislation for the House Committee on Education to consider. The first is a simple delay of the forced mergers until July 1, 2020, and the second is a moratorium on the forced mergers until the legal cases are adjudicated or July 1, 2020, whichever is later. I am hopeful the Committee will agree to a hearing on one or both of those bills within the next two weeks. After all, considering the need to produce school district budgets now, we must move quickly.
Our legislative working group is also working on the Senate side, in the hopes that they, too, know and understand these very serious concerns, and address them accordingly.
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What Does the Future of our State's Education System Look Like?
Following years of presenting education reform proposals that would reform both the education funding system and the education delivery system, I took a break from such proposals last biennium. Given the 2015 passage of Act 46 (without my support), and the State Education Plan that was to result from Act 46, I determined it was best to take a wait-and-see approach to the merger activities.
1) Create one statewide school district with four regional school boards in place of all of our local school districts;
2) Provide for full school choice for students throughout the state;
3) Eliminate the State Board of Education;
4) Create one statewide teacher's contract for all teachers, who would then be state employees;
5) Require a Parent School Committee for each school to advise the Principal on school operations.
While disappointing, this proposal comes as no surprise. This trend started in 1997 with Act 60, the state takeover of the funding of K-12 education, and has continued each year as the Legislature - both Democrats and Republicans - have wrested more and more control from our local school districts and boards.
Indeed, even I proposed in the past a consolidation of Supervisory Unions. This proposal was part of a larger one to eliminate the statewide property tax and replace it with something to which taxpayers are more and better connected. But, I also learned very quickly that a critical piece of any consolidation puzzle was maintaining local school districts and boards.
As the years went on and proposal after proposal came forward to take more authority from the locals and give it to the state, I have repeatedly argued that there are only two directions in which we can go with regard to education: a) the complete state takeover of education; or b) return some semblance of local control and local decision-making.
The Administration draft memo puts the former on the table. I will do so shortly with the latter. Frankly, while I disagree with the Administration on this, I am happy that we might finally have this debate about the direction of pre-k - 12 education.
I am working on an alternative proposal that will strengthen local school districts and local school boards; reconnect taxpayers to the budgets voted upon and money spent so that we have cost containment and property tax relief; and expand educational opportunities for our students.
We can, in fact, do these things, if we have the will to do so!
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How to Stay Up-To-Date On the Stowe-EMUU Merger and Ways to Help
There are a number of ways to stay posted on the various activities related to the Stowe-EMUU merger, and I encourage you to do so.
With regard to our work on the legislative front, I will do my best to keep the community of Stowe posted on our efforts. In addition, here are the links to the House and Senate Education Committees. You can track their agendas and work regularly.
You will notice, for example, that on tap today in both committees are updates of Act 46.
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Vermont Republicanism - A Proud, Distinguished Tradition
Originally Published - December 13, 2018
Six years ago, upon the considerable electoral defeat in 2012 Vermont Republicans, I wrote an opinion piece asking where Vermont Republicans were to go from that point (Where To Go From Here, November 2012).
Specifically, my concern was that we had lost our way; that we had become lifeless and uninspiring; that our traditional core values of individual liberty and responsibility, a free market economy that ensures economic opportunity for all, fiscal responsibility, and a smaller, more efficient government in place to ensure programs and resources are there to help our friends and neighbors in need were being drowned out by other, more divisive issues; and that our big tent from years past inclusive of Republicans from the conservative wing to the liberal wing, was somehow becoming smaller rather than larger.
I followed the opinion piece with travels around the state with fellow Vermont Republican, Senator Joe Benning, presenting our case for refocusing on our core issues and developing a clear, inspired message, thus broadening our tent again and reinvigorating and reviving traditional Vermont Republicanism.
Unfortunately, while we had some success over the next four years in expanding our reach to discontented former Republicans, independents, and moderate Democrats, that success came to a halt with the 2018 election.
The question now is why. Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple one.
Indeed, the disgust among Vermonters at President Trump's caustic, boorish behavior and the frustration and anger with the national Republican Party that accompanies that disgust is an obvious challenge for Vermont Republicans. Make no mistake, though, these feelings are shared by people from across the political spectrum - Republican to Democrat, conservative to liberal.
That said, it is too simple to lay all of the blame for last month's significant defeat on Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and the lot in DC.
The same can be said with the recent debate about whether Vermont Republicans have become too liberal or too conservative for the voters of Vermont and the blame for the electoral loss being placed on either side of that debate.
Our challenge is a far more nuanced one than both of these allow.
In fact, Vermont Republicans have lost our way all on our own. We continue to be lifeless and uninspiring. We lack a clear message that inspires and welcomes Vermonters into our fold, and, in fact, in some cases, we are moving away from our traditional core values that have served this state so well for so many years. And, for that reason, we don't have the organization in place to compete electorally.
With last month's significant defeat, I call again on Vermont Republicans to re-examine carefully where we are and how we move forward. And, I respectfully propose that the only way to move forward successfully is to look back at our state's proud and inspired Republican history, to become more inclusive of all, and to distinguish ourselves from the national party. This is the only way we will be able to gain ground with young families, women, and other working Vermonters and voters so important for electoral success.
First, I call on all of us to examine both the character and legacies of the recent decades of work by distinguished Vermont Republicans, and consider what we might learn from them going forward. Some of those we might look to include Governor and Senator George Aiken; Governor, Congressman, and Senator Robert Stafford; Governor Deane Davis; Attorney General, Congressman, and Senator Jim Jeffords; Governor Richard Snelling; Secretary of State, Treasurer (note: in printed and online pieces, I mistakenly wrote Auditor), and Governor Jim Douglas.
What made each of these individuals successful was simple. It was their integrity, their independence; it was their frugality, their fiscal responsibility, and their decency.
Even more importantly, the legacies each of these Vermont Republicans left were of huge importance to our state and our nation. For example, every significant piece of national education policy created over the past 50 years has the fingerprints of every Vermont Republican in Washington, from pre-K and special education, to K-12 and post-secondary educational opportunities. They were firm believers in fiscal responsibility, fighting for smart tax policy, debt reduction, pay as you go laws, and more. They were leaders on environmental policy, including our land use planning law (Act 250), the clean water and clean air acts, and so much more. They believed strongly in workforce and job training opportunities, much-needed worldwide humanitarian aid, and disaster relief. They all fought relentlessly for health care access and affordability, and for important disability policies in an effort to ensure the greatest possible opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Just as our prior leaders faced serious challenges like those above that needed to be addressed, so do we now. And I submit that Vermont Republicans can lead the way in this regard. If we refocus on our core values, we can lead the way in fiscally responsible state spending, in growing our economy, in economically sustainable energy and environmental policies, in caring for our friends and neighbors in need, in returning the education of our children to those who know them best (the local communities) and set the bar for educational excellence, rather than mediocrity in the pursuit of equity, and ensuring all Vermonters have the best possible opportunities available to them.
In order to do so, however, we need to change.
Just as I said in 2012, we need to understand that government is not the enemy of our ideas, or of the people. Government is, and should be, an instrument of the people put in place to help those in need.
Economic liberty and free enterprise, personal liberty and responsibility, and a limited, non-invasive government in place to help those in need are the very ideals that help everyone, and are the ones proven to work. Vermont Republicans have a proud and accomplished tradition in this regard, and it's time to embrace them within the 21st Century landscape.
It's time to start anew; to break down and rebuild ourselves around our core, timeless principles of liberty and responsibility. It's time to acknowledge the demographic shift in Vermont; to understand Vermonters' priorities are different, and their needs more complex.
It's time to lead.
As a political party, we are down. But our voice is necessary and our ideals sound. We simply need to embrace our traditional Vermont Republicanism. Toward that end, I plan to do just that by continuing to serve my constituents accordingly, and embracing an idea from 2012 of a marketing friend of mine.
I am a proud
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If you have any questions or concerns about any of the items above, or any other issues that arise, please feel free to contact me.
 Representative Heidi E. Scheuermann
Stowe, Vermont
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