Senate Finance reviews draft S.39 to revive school construction aid with debt-service subsidy

Chair Cummings convened the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13 to review proposals to address longstanding school facility needs across Vermont and to preview draft legislation (S.39) that would revamp state school construction aid.

The presentation described S.39 as replacing the old Title 16, chapter 123 moratorium-era program with a debt-service subsidy model in which municipalities or school districts would bond through the Vermont Bond Bank and the state would pay a portion of the districts’ annual debt service. "If we do nothing, we're gonna have to do something to help some of our schools," Chair Cummings said, introducing the topic.

Why it matters: Vermont's school portfolio is old — presenters said the average school age is about 61 years — and the state remains under a moratorium on the old construction-aid program that curtailed routine state funding of most projects after Act 52 in 2007. Committee witnesses noted a facilities inventory and task-force work that estimated roughly $6.2 billion in needs for the current footprint and a sustained investment need on the order of $300 million a year to address known deficiencies.

How the proposed program would work: Legislative counsel described the draft’s key financing concept as a debt-service subsidy rather than a return to the state's prior…