Three committees in the Vermont House have signed off on a bill intended to speed up the search process for a secretary of education and ensure the search had enough money to be properly carried out.
The proposed changes in state law come after the most recent search for an education secretary took nearly a year. That process ended in controversy this week when the Senate rejected Florida administrator Zoie Saunders, Gov. Phil Scott's pick for the post. Immediately after the vote, the governor indefinitely appointed Saunders
interim secretary, a designation that does not require legislative approval.
S.167, the so-called miscellaneous education bill, has already been approved by the Senate. But the House Education Committee added the new language this week. It
says that the State Board of Education "shall begin a robust national search process not later than 60 days after public notification of the resignation of a Secretary of Education."
House Education chair Rep. Peter Conlon (D-Cornwall) said the provision was added "to make sure these important searches are done in a timely manner."
Though statute is somewhat vague on how the search for a new secretary is initiated, Conlon said, the State Board of Education customarily awaits a letter from the governor before beginning the process. The board then conducts the search and sends three finalists to the governor, who appoints one. A majority of senators must then vote to confirm the nominee.
After former secretary Dan French resigned in April 2023, Gov. Scott
waited almost four months to ask the state board to initiate the process. The governor's spokesperson, Jason Maulucci, chalked up the delay to a busy end to the 2023 legislative session and the state's emergency response to catastrophic flooding in early July.
The miscellaneous ed bill also gives the state board authority to "request from the Agency of Education the funds necessary to utilize outside resources for the search process." The board has a small budget, and Conlon said the provision was added to ensure it has enough funding to conduct a thorough search.
Seven Days reported in October that the
state board spent roughly $500 on its most recent secretary search, a figure that pales in comparison to the money that Vermont school districts spend to hire principals and superintendents. At a meeting in September, state board chair Jennifer Samuelson explained that the board didn't have the budget to hire a national firm to conduct the search and was told by the state's Department of Human Resources that such a measure was unnecessary.
In testimony last month, Samuelson told legislators that the board did not contact references for candidates, instead leaving that job to the governor's office. When
Seven Days asked about this, Maulucci said the governor's interview committee did not call finalists' references but instead called several of each candidates' colleagues and coworkers to learn more about them.
Board chair Samuelson has said she doesn't think a lack of funds hampered her search committee's work. But two former state board chairs said recently that it had affected their ability to conduct board business.
In
testimony to the House Education Committee last week, Krista Huling, who led the 2018 search that ended with French's appointment, told lawmakers that the board's requests for legal counsel and money were regularly denied by both the Scott administration and under former governor Peter Shumlin. Huling said it was challenging to find, interview and present at least three secretary candidates to the governor with the "very modest budget" they had.
Huling laid part of the blame on Act 98, legislation passed in 2012 that changed the role of education commissioner to an education secretary who reported to the governor rather than the state board. The law also gave the governor, rather than the state board, final say on the choice for education secretary. Huling said the change had the effect of making education in the state "highly politicized."
Another former state board member, Stephan Morse, echoed Huling's sentiments in an interview with
Seven Days on Monday. Morse, a former Republican state representative who served on the board from 2009 to 2017, said that before Act 98, the Agency of Education staff wasn't beholden to the governor but rather worked for the board. Morse said he believes that Vermont's education system has suffered and become more political in the years since the secretary began reporting to the governor instead of the board.
On Friday, the House Education Committee considered an additional tweak to the miscellaneous education bill. It would have required the state board to publicly release the names and credentials of the secretary finalists when they were forwarded to the governor. But lawmakers backed away from that provision over worries it might deter some candidates from applying for the job.
By contrast, finalists for principal and superintendent jobs in Vermont are typically named publicly.
The House Education, Ways and Means and Appropriations committees all approved the bill on Friday.
It is expected to go before the full House next week.
Correction, May 4, 2024: A previous version of this story misidentified the legislative chamber in which Morse served.