By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger
The Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont approved its preliminary findings on Monday, Dec. 16, without making any recommendations about how to contain costs in the short term.
During the 2024 legislative session, as average education property taxes were slated to rise almost 14%, lawmakers created the commission as a vehicle to steer the state’s public education system toward a more sustainable future.
Despite being tasked with producing “preliminary findings and recommendations, including short-term cost containment considerations” by Dec. 15, the commission decided not to include a slate of money-saving proposals in its report.
The group spent much of Monday’s meeting discussing whether to include a list of ideas that could save money, brainstormed by a subcommittee focused on finance. The naysayers ultimately won out, arguing the list, which the full commission hadn’t vetted, would come off as recommendations rather than merely ideas. Members of the 13-member body, composed of lawmakers, state leaders and education officials, said the December deadline had left them little time to meet their mandate.
Among those who argued against the list’s inclusion was Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s education secretary.
“I think we’ve all acknowledged that the list is not ready yet,” she said. “The public will interpret this as a set of policies.”
Others agreed that such a list of non-recommendations would be rife for misinterpretation.
The commission ultimately voted 8-3 to adopt the preliminary report, deciding to link to — but not include — the list of cost-containment proposals.
Still, some voiced concern over the absence of any suggested solutions. Oliver Olsen, who represents the Vermont Independent Schools Association, suggested the group could release target budget metrics to guide school districts and independent schools during the budgeting process already underway.
“We can get everybody working towards a common goal,” he said, adding that budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year were one of the limited ways the commission could contain costs in the short term.
But with their preliminary findings already overdue, the commission’s members decided to move ahead, handing off a report short on answers to the Legislature. Instead, the document offers an assessment of the current situation facing public education in Vermont, some key education data trends and a call for continued collaboration by all interested parties.
Democrats and Republicans in Montpelier, as well as Republican Gov. Phil Scott, have signaled they will prioritize education finance reform in the looming January session. That work will coincide with — and potentially overtake — the commission’s work, which is oriented towards a final report expected by December 2025.
Despite loud promises of education reform, lawmakers and state officials have so far been quiet about specifics, as Seven Days recently reported, much as the future of public education commission has, thus far,. avoided endorsing any policy recommendations.
The commission’s report does, however, offer a summation of the challenge ahead: “Substantive change will require difficult decisions and significant political will.”
