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The $3.8 million bond would have funded upgrades at White River Valley Supervisory Union schools in Bethel and Royalton. Instead, the district says it will dip into its capital fund to make some upgrades.

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.

If the two sides don’t settle before next Wednesday, it would be the first teachers� strike in Vermont in nearly a decade. Burlington teachers went on strike for four days in 2017.

Buying down the rate, as this use of one-time money is called, is generally considered bad policy � on both sides of the aisle � because it risks creating a tax spike in the following year. But lawmakers say voters sent them a clear message in November: tax relief, now.

The Republican proposal would eliminate grad PLUS loans, set strict limits on parent PLUS loans and create a system in which colleges would be on the hook if their students don't repay their loans.

Simply taxing second homes at a higher rate is not so simple, in part because Vermont currently has no system for categorizing vacation homes. But lawmakers are trying to change that � with the House's sweeping education reform bill.

International students had filed dozens of lawsuits after the government removed them from a database crucial for maintaining their legal status.