Op-ed: Be brave little state, defend public education

By John Castle

Gov. Phil Scott has provided his shock and aw-shucks proposal for rescuing taxpayers and claiming to improve education along the way. Finding renewed hubris with the “red wave” of new Republicans in the State House and Democrats running scared, Gov. Scott is seizing the opportunity with a misguided overhaul of our public education system. It is time for Vermonters to defend our equitable, successful and essential public schools and local governance.

One of our most prized institutions, public education, is under attack. Public education is the only aspect of government service that is enshrined within our Vermont Constitution.

Public education is a public good and not an individual entitlement. We must promote our public schools as a foundation of our democracy and defend the democratic practices that are essential to fostering the public’s trust in our schools.

Immense pressures from both inside and outside Vermont are working to dismantle our public education system and shift to a privatized approach. The playbook is clear: Discredit, defund, dismantle. We cannot be fooled by a sales pitch that promotes a questionable funding formula, out-of-scale governance restructuring, and centralization of authority with the Secretary of Education, all while pursing the real goal of expanded school choice and privatization.

Not wanting to waste a crisis, the administration moved quickly to unveil a proposal, with strategically absent details, allowing them to speak in broad platitudes and obfuscate the goal of closing many of our community schools. The administration has strategically crafted a narrative with misleading data that discredits our current education system at all levels, arguing that the funding formula is too complicated, we are spending too much, our results are in the middle of the pack, and our governance structure does not allow for strategic budgeting. All of this is articulated with the promise to reduce costs and achieve greater results, when the reality is that Vermonters will have less say and schools will have fewer resources. The administration even discredits our local school board members who are stewards of our public schools and make tough decisions continually in balancing the needs of students and the impact on taxpayers.

It is now evident that the administration’s plan is to increase the flow of public funds into independent schools. Why else would the administration set the stage for widespread closure of small, rural schools, yet say nothing about the 86 approved independent schools, receiving public dollars, with the majority having fewer than 50 students? It is hypocrisy. A better plan is to keep more public dollars in public schools. The governor is now offering $77 million in one-time money to buy down tax rates as an inducement to his goal. The use of one-time funds to reduce tax rates is not typical for traditionally conservative public officials.

This past year, a confluence of factors conspired to result in double-digit increases in property taxes for many Vermonters. We have reasonable means to address some cost drivers and provide tax relief while we consider long-term systemic changes to ensure financial sustainability and effective delivery of high-quality public education.

Ironically, the governor has chosen not to address health care, which is one of the largest cost drivers impacting school costs. In addition, we should be concerned with a “student centered” funding formula that allows funding to follow the child in a new free market educational system. The proposed foundation formula, where property wealthy communities have the advantage to raise more funds, is not in accordance with our state constitution, as defined by the 1997 Brigham decision.

Our public schools, run by local citizen school boards, are not to blame for our financial challenges, as the administration would have us believe. A five-district approach will create large bureaucracies that are removed from our schools and communities, diminish public trust in public education, and provide a pathway for increased privatization. By removing our local democratic engagement in the governance of our schools, there is no collective voice to advocate for our community schools’ needs and, ultimately, their existence. Our schools are public schools, not government schools. Our practice of local responsibility is a core democratic value and asset, not something to be dismissed. Given the chaos in Washington, greatly diminished support for public schools, and potential loss of federal funds, now is not the time to destabilize our public education system in Vermont.

We are already seeing many school boards make substantial reductions for FY26, as a result of the return of the excess spending threshold in the budget process. The Legislature needs to find reasonable solutions to cost containment and tax relief while also considering much-needed strategic investments, missing from the governor’s plan, such as school construction aid, teacher workforce development, and practices such as the “community schools” approach, which has demonstrated a positive return on modest investment. Ultimately, Vermont needs to continue to invest in and defend our public education system.

John Castle is the former superintendent of North Country Supervisory Union, executive director of Vermont Rural Education collaborative, and serves on the Commission on the Future of Public Education.