By Curt Peterson
The almost 14% average education tax increase last year shocked Vermonters into taking serious interest in education finance. The governor, the Legislature and local school board members blamed each other and/or alleged bloated school budgets. Now the education system itself is the focus for all stakeholders.
One group, Vermont Rural Schools Community Alliance (VRSCA), wants a meaningful voice on behalf of smaller local schools and communities as the final reform evolves.
General education challenges include: education and behavior effects left over from the Covid pandemic; dismantling of the federal Dept. of Education and shut-off of major grants; low number of students; distances to any proposed centralized regional schools; and a shortage of bus drivers.
“They can’t close Reading and Barnard,” Carin Park, VRSCA advocate told the Mountain Times. “The remaining school in our district is Woodstock Elementary, and it doesn’t have enough room.”
Park said long bus rides and larger class sizes may be manageable by students in the 8th grade, but for younger students these changes are unreasonable.
Vermont’s new Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders introduced Governor Phil Scott’s proposal to the House and Senate on Jan. 25. Scott’s plan would consolidate the existing 52 supervisiory unions (and 199 districts) school districts into five large regional districts, each with one school board and one central administrative office. Each regional system would accommodate 10,000-15,000 students, with the exception of a Champlain Valley region, which would educate 34,000 students.
The state would allot funds to each district based on a per student contribution, which Secretary Saunders said in her presentation, “would be very generous.”
But the Vermont House of Representatives passed its own proposal, H454, earlier this month. In either the House plan or the governor’s plan, local school boards would cease to exist, and any small schools that would no longer be necessary, would be closed, its students transported to larger facilities.
The governor’s proposal and H454, inspired creation of the Alliance.
“The Rural School Community Alliance appreciates the effort lawmakers have made in recent weeks to respond to the many concerns raised by Vermonters about proposed changes to our public education system. Unfortunately, despite some improvements, H.454 falls short of addressing the most critical issues facing our rural communities, and it remains deeply concerning in its implications for educational equity, local democracy and the well-being of our children,” stated Cheryl Charles, VRSCA steering committee chair, April 11 after the House passed H.454. “H.454 proposes a dramatic shift away from Vermont’s functioning system of local democratic engagement in school governance. It moves toward centralizing decision-making into fewer school boards with reduced local representation, which would separate communities from decisions that directly impact their children and their schools.”
VRSCA states that H.454 is in direct conflict with the letter and spirit of mergers resulting from Act 46 consolidation — many of the newly-formed districts are required to include all communities served in any decision to close a schools. There is no such provision in H.454.
“Many school districts in Vermont currently have merger agreements that give towns a say in decisions about school closures,” the VRSCA statement continued. “These provisions are essential. When a school faces closure, it is the local community—families, students, and taxpayers—who are most affected. They deserve a voice to ensure that children’s needs are considered, including reasonable bus rides for young learners, thoughtful planning for the reuse of school buildings, and manageable financial impacts for the town. H.454 eliminates closure articles of agreement in the formation of the new larger districts, and does not establish a clear process for school closures, creating uncertainty for rural communities … The bill ignores the consequences for rural communities in Vermont, a state that is predominantly rural. School closures lead to population decline, reduced property values, loss of social capital, and difficulties attracting and retaining families. These are not abstract concerns—they are lived realities in towns where schools have already closed.”
The Alliance currently is supported by more than 80 towns across the state, according to Charles. “Since Jan. 15, organizations that have joined [V]RSCA … include school districts, supervisory unions, union districts, select boards and several early-childhood and parent-teacher groups,” she wrote in an email. And the organization is growing steadily, she added.
VRSCA asks the legislators to instead focus their efforts on education financing, and to approach reformation of the education system as a separate, longer-term objective.
“We asked for tax relief, not for dismantling an education system based on strong local schools,” Charles concluded.
