Leahy Steers N.H.-Vt. School Compact
Through Senate Wednesday Night

WASHINGTON (Wed., Nov. 20) – The Senate Judiciary Committee and now the full Senate have unanimously passed a bill shepherded through the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy that will allow joint New Hampshire-Vermont school districts to make their own decisions about how to conduct votes on bond issues. 

Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, steered the bill through his committee last Thursday (Nov. 14) on a unanimous vote, and Leahy Wednesday night also won unanimous Senate passage of the bill, which now goes to the desk of President Bush.  Leahy said the President will sign it.

The bill, sponsored by Representatives Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), will allow the Dresden School District to change its voting method from the Town Meeting format to an all-day Australian ballot.  The bill (H.R.3180) will allow both interstate school districts’ residents – Dresden and the Rivendell School District – to choose the best way to conduct bond votes. 

Last year residents of the Dresden School District approved articles to amend the New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate School Compact of 1969 to enable them to vote on bond issues via Australian ballot.  The existing Compact now requires bond votes to be conducted in a Town Meeting format. 

“This bill is important to Vermonters living along the Connecticut River and to our neighbors on the other side, and it helps our citizens make their own decisions, regardless of the state boundary lines,” said Leahy.  “The residents of the Dresden and Rivendell School Districts should be able to choose how they will decide local issues that directly affect their children and their schools.”

The Vermont and New Hampshire legislatures passed identical legislation approving the change, and Bass and Sanders then introduced their bill.  Interstate compacts must be approved by Congress and signed by the President.  In the Senate, compacts are handled by the Judiciary Committee.  The Bass-Sanders bill unanimously passed the House in June.

Hanover, N.H., and Norwich, Vt., comprise the Dresden School District while the Rivendell School District is made up of Fairlee and Thetford, Vt., and Orford, N.H.

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