(Host) The Republican leader of the Vermont House wants to consolidate the number of schools in the state.
Speaking on VPR’s Vermont Edition, Dorset Representative Patti Komline said it’s difficult to decide which schools should close.
So she wants an independent group to draw up a school-closing proposal that the Legislature could adopt or reject – but not change.
(Komline) "I have a bill that I’m having drafted that talks about consolidation as set up similarly to the way they do base closings. We had this bill out a few years ago, that you have an outside commission take a look and come up with a recommendation of a group of schools. And not only looking to consolidate based on finances, but on what serves students best."
(Host) Komline says that’s what Congress did when it became too difficult to decide which military bases to close.
Komline says school consolidation is similar because few towns want to close their own schools and neither do their representatives or senators.
She says an independent commission would remove some of the politics from the decision.