Tag Archives: teachers

Vt. veto session politics: Killing pot, attacking teachers

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This spring, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the state budget after the legislature rebuffed his last minute demand for the state to to strip local school boards of the right to collectively bargaining health care benefits with teachers. Scott also vetoed the Legislature’s marijuana legalization bill. The standoff over these issues forced the Legislature to stay in session two weeks longer than anticipated and required a one-day veto session last week. The result? Scott signed a budget almost identical to the budget he vetoed. The budget includes penalties for school districts that may result in property tax hikes. No deal was struck to legalize marijuana. Advocates discuss the politics of the veto session. (June 28, 2017 broadcast)

Dave Silberman, Middlebury lawyer and pro bono drug policy reform advocate

Darren Allen, communications director, Vermont NEA

 

“We were too optimistic:” Sen. Tim Ashe on Gov. Scott’s marijuana veto and union attacks

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Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe discusses Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of Vermont’s first-in-the-nation legislative marijuana legalization and the governor’s attack on teachers’ unions. “Perhaps we were too optimistic that there would actually be compromise,” he says. “I can imagine what might follow next is some type of proposal related to state employees, right to work laws which have gained currency in other states. …We will do everything that we can to stop that.” (May 24, 2017 broadcast)

Sen. Tim Ashe, Vermont Senate President Pro Tem 

Is Gov. Scott following national union busting playbook? A look at the Ohio and Michigan models

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Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s 2016 attempt to weaken the collective bargaining rights of teachers has a familiar ring. In 2010, Republican governors won elections in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, in each case taking over from Democratic governors. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder surprised many by immediately attacking teachers’ unions. Another Vermont Conversation discussed Gov. Walker’s battle with unions. Today, we talk with leaders of teachers’ unions in Ohio and Michigan for the national dimension of this issue. (May 24, 2017 broadcast)

Michael Charney, former vice president, Cleveland Teacher’s Union

Amanda Miller, president, Kalamazoo Education Association