MONTPELIER — In his annual address to Vermont legislators Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Phil Scott urged members of the House and Senate to move forward with the next stages of the sweeping education reform project they started last year, at his administration’s urging.

But as the 2026 legislative session got underway this week, it has seemed far from certain that the process of creating new school districts and developing a new funding model — with the goals of improving educational quality and making the system less expensive overall — will advance at the pace, or in the form, that the governor and his Republican allies want.

That’s in part because the school redistricting task force set up in last year’s education reform law, Act 73, did not recommend new proposed district maps in November ahead of the session — essentially flouting one of the law’s key directives. Any new maps would likely include far fewer school districts, with larger student populations in each, than what exists today.

Speaking to a joint assembly of legislators and other officials for his State of the State address in the House chamber, Scott called education reform “our most critical challenge.”

He pointed to how Vermonters could see a nearly 12% average property tax hike this year, about half of which is due to anticipated increases in school district spending in the 2026-2027 school year, according to estimates late last year from the Vermont Tax Department.

“These are the real costs of maintaining a system designed for a Vermont that no longer exists,” the governor said. “If there’s one thing you take away from this speech today, it’s this — education transformation is not optional. It’s essential.”

In fact, there was not much else legislators could take away from the speech, as Scott’s 35-minute address focused almost entirely on that topic. Scott also took the notable step of using his speech to issue an ultimatum: If lawmakers did not make the changes to the state’s education system that he wants to see, he would not sign other key pieces of legislation they pass, such as the annual state budget or the bill that sets property tax rates, known as the yield bill.

“From my perspective, the recent failure to produce maps was a political strategy to preserve the old system,” the governor said. “Following through is about keeping our word to students, teachers and taxpayers who all deserve better.”

Scott’s ultimatum drew criticism from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate in remarks to reporters shortly after. House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said she did not think the veto threat was productive and, in fact, could make it harder to persuade her colleagues in the chamber to move forward with the plan the governor has laid out.

“It’s disappointing to hear,” she said. “I am 100% at the table to figure this out with the House, with the Senate and with the governor — and I think we all are coming to a place of having to reset and figure out what we do to keep education transformation going. And — what does that look like in a map?”

She added, “I think there’s concern and fear about what might happen” among House members, “but I truly believe that every member in my chamber wants to do something. It’s just how we get there — and that’s going to be the tough work ahead of us this session.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, said he “would have probably preferred no threat, but a private communication of how serious (Scott) is.” Baruth called Scott’s speech “the most narrowly focused State of the State I’ve ever seen” in his 15 years in the Senate, though he understood why the governor would make that decision.

Asked about his own appetite for advancing the stipulations of Act 73, Baruth bristled slightly at a reporter’s suggestion he was “bullish” on the law.

“I would say I’m committed to it,” he said.

In a statement issued shortly after the address, the minority leaders of the House and Senate, for their part, praised the governor’s speech. Scott “correctly identified education reform as our most urgent challenge,” said Rep. Pattie McCoy, R-Poultney, and Sen. Scott Beck, R-Caledonia.

Scott also used his speech Wednesday to foreshadow — briefly — what he called the “hard choices” his administration, together with House and Senate budget writers, will have to make in the coming months when developing the state’s spending plan for the 2027 fiscal year. That time period runs from July 2026 to June 2027.

House and Senate leaders have already said they expect some existing programs will need to be cut as support from the federal government — especially for key human services programs such as nutritional benefits, Medicaid and assistance for home heating costs — wavers.

“This year’s spending package has required difficult decisions,” Scott said of his administration’s budget proposal, which he will present in another address later this month. From there, the House and Senate will develop a budget bill, which they’ll ultimately send back to Scott for his sign-off.

The governor said Wednesday that in national politics, “conflict is chosen over cooperation, division over decency and outrage over outcomes. People lose trust.”

He said he sees advancing the education reform plan he supports, and that legislators started last year in Act 73, as a way to set an example of how people’s “government still works for them.” Democratic leaders’ willingness to evolve the public education system in 2025 along the lines Scott proposed was, in part, a political response to voters’ outrage in 2024 over property tax increases. That spike led Democrats to lose a historic number of state House and Senate seats.

“We don’t need to be asked to do the right thing,” Scott said. “We just need to do it.”

This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.

Officials in Piscataway, New Jersey, noted Tuesday that an individual with a machete was shot and killed by police, who then found the subject’s mother and grandparents dead inside a home, WABC reported.

Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler noted that the suspect’s father dialed 911, the outlet noted.

When authorities arrived at the home, the man had a machete, authorities said, according to the outlet. Authorities attempted to utilize tasers against the man but indicated it did not stop the suspect, WABC noted. 

He allegedly charged at law enforcement officers with the weapon, and they opened fire and killed him, the outlet reported.

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After the shooting, police found three people dead in the home, a press release from the New Jersey attorney general’s office notes.

“The Office of Public Integrity and Accountability is investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred on Monday, January 5, 2026, in Piscataway Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey,” the release states.

Preliminary information indicated that authorities with the Piscataway Police Department had responded to a 911 call from someone who reported a person with a knife, the release indicates.

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“Officers subsequently shot and killed a man armed with a knife who they encountered at the residence,” the press release noted.

“A 2019 law … requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved,” the release explains.

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According to a post on X, New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association President Peter Andreyev noted, “We are aware of the horrific crime in Middlesex County tonight. All our members that were involved are being evaluated. Thank you to all who have reached to offer support.”

In the middle of Michelle Wu’s orchestrated inaugural celebration, prosecutors described a senseless hospital horror that unfolded at Boston Medical Center – a rape of a partially paralyzed patient allegedly by a mentally ill man allowed to freely roam the hospital’s hallways.

It happened in September in what is supposed to be a safe haven but too often is a dangerous campus. Drug addicts with needles frequently openly camp in front of the hospital, and in early December a security guard suffered serious injuries in a stabbing on the BMC campus. The alleged assailant was finally subdued by other security guards after a struggle.

In the September incident, prosecutors described in court this week how the 55-year-old alleged rapist Barry Howze worked his way under the terrified victim’s bed in the BMC emergency room and sexually assaulted her.

“This assault was brutal and brazen, and occurred in a place where people go for help,” Suffolk County prosecutor Kate Fraiman said. “Due to her partial paralysis, she could not reach her phone, which was under her body at the time.”

Howze, who reportedly has a history of violent offenses and mental illness, was able to flee the scene but was arrested two days later at the hospital when he tried to obtain a visitor’s pass and was recognized by security. Howze’s attorney blamed hospital staff for allowing him the opportunity to commit the crime and some city councilors are demanding answers.

“This was a horrific and violent sexual assault on a defenseless patient,” Councilor Ed Flynn said. “The safety and security of patients and staff at the hospital can’t be ignored any longer. The hospital leadership must make immediate and major changes and upgrades to their security department.”

Flynn also sent a letter to BMC CEO Alastair Bell questioning how the assailant was allowed to commit the rape.

Where is Wu? She was too busy celebrating herself with a weeklong inaugural of her second term to deal with the rape at the medical center, which is near the center of drug-ravaged Mass and Cass.

If the rape had happened at a suburban hospital, people would be demanding investigations and accountability.

But in Boston, Wu takes credit for running the “safest major city in the country” while often ignoring crimes.

Wu should intervene and demand better security and safety for the staff and patients at BMC.

Although the hospital is no longer run by the city, it has a historic connection with City Hall. It is used by Boston residents, many of them poor and disabled or from marginalized communities. She should be out front like Flynn demanding accountability from the hospital.

Boston Medical Center, located in the city’s South End, is the largest “safety-net” hospital in New England. It is partially overseen by the Boston Public Health Commission, whose members are appointed by the mayor.

BMC was formed in 1996 by the Thomas Menino administration as a merger between the city-owned Boston City Hospital, which first opened in 1864, and Boston University Medical Center.

Menino called the merger “the most important thing I will do as mayor.”

When he was appointed CEO by the hospital board of trustees in 2023, Bell offered recycled Wu-speak to talk about how BMC was trying to “reshape” how the hospital delivers health care.

“The way we think about the health of our patients and members extends beyond traditional medicine to environmental sustainability and issues such as housing, food insecurity, and economic mobility, as we study the root causes of health inequities and empower all of our patients and communities to thrive,” Bell said.

But the hospital has been plagued by security issues in the last few years, and a contract dispute with the nurses’ union. The nurses at BMC’s Brighton campus authorized a three-day strike late last year over management demands to cut staffing and retirement benefits.

Kirsten Ransom, BMC Brighton RN and Massachusetts Nurses Association co-chair, said, “This vote sends a clear message that our members are united in our commitment to make a stand for our patients, our community and our professional integrity in the wake of this blatant effort to balance BMC’s budget on the backs of those who have the greatest impact on the safety of the patients and the future success of this facility.”