The Future of Public Education in Vt. – a big lift on short time

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Toward the end of this year’s session, the Vermont legislature passed a bill – H-887, also known as the “yield bill” which made adjustments to rein in tax increase for this year by finding other sources of income. It also established a commission to recommend fixes problems with the education system including its funding. The work to be done fast and on a tight budget.

According to the law – which became Act 183 after the legislature overrode Gov. Phil Scott’s veto – the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont is charged with studying Vermont’s public education system, then make recommendations to give all students “quality educational opportunities in an efficient, sustainable, and equitable education system” to help students succeed in school.

The commission’s work is intended to help create a blueprint for the state’s entire public school system.

“I think there is no more important work that we could be doing right now,” said Commission Chair Megan Roy at the initial meeting on July 15, “At the same time, the magnitude of this work is at best overwhelming. I’m convinced it’s the right work, but I also know that in order to do this work well, we will have to spend a lot of time together.  Roy has been a superintendent and was the chair of the Census-Based Funding Advisory Group that worked on how to weight students as part of Act 173.

On the face of it, it is a pretty big lift and a closer look at what the law requires the commission to consider makes it seem even more daunting. Among items the commission must consider:

• whether changes need to be made to the structure of the Agency of Education, including whether it should be an agency or a department
• staffing needs of the Agency of Education;
• whether changes need to be made to the composition, role and function of the State Board of Education;
• what roles, functions or decisions should controlled locally and what should be controlled by the state;
• recommending the most efficient and effective number and locations of school buildings, school districts and supervisory unions including an implementation plan;
• an analysis of the ability to staff all public schools with a qualified workforce, driven by data on class-size;
• an analysis of the current town tuition program and changes necessary;
• an analysis of the current use of private schools for special needs students

The difficult financial part of the puzzle

As if straightening out the “governance, resources, administration … size, footprint” and “the role of public schools” was not enough, the group is also tasked with recommending fixes to Vermont’s complicated education finance system.

And all of this has to be done while taking into consideration the existing education laws including “at a minimum:”

• Act 46, which dealt with school consolidation,
• Act 173 on equitable provision of special education,
• Act 127, which added weighting to education spending and changed the funding system with resulting tax increases and
• Act 76, which focuses on childcare and early education.

The commission’s recommendations must be “in accordance with” the Vermont Supreme Court’s 1997 Brigham decision on school equity that resulted in Act 60, which created the statewide education fund, and Act 68, which made changes to Act 60 by establishing different homestead and nonresidential tax rates.

Meetings, per diem and consultants

Act 183 sets aside $200,000 for this effort and for the School Construction Task Force, but only allows the 13 commission members per diem pay and expenses for 30 meetings including meetings of the full commission, the six-member steering group, the sub-committee on education finance and any other sub-committee created by the commission. Members have discussed holding meetings beyond the per diem and expense limit for which they would not be paid. State law sets the per diem at $50. There has also been discussion so far about hiring consultants to help with the work.

Of the 30 meetings, there must be at least one in each of Vermont’s 14 counties and the commission must create a public outreach plan. All of the commission’s meetings are subject to the Open Meeting Law and the commission is also subject to Vermont’s Public Records Act. Once the final draft report is issued in October 2025, there will be a 30-day public comment period.

The members of the commission are:

• Megan Roy, former chair of the census-Based Funding Advisory Group;
• Zoie Saunders, interim Secretary, AOE
• Craig Bolio, commissioner, Department of Taxes;
• Jennifer Deck-Samuelson, chair, State Board of Education;
• Sen. Ann Cummings, chair, Senate Finance Committee;
• Rep. Peter Conlon, chair, House Education Committee;
• Nicole Mace, Vermont School Boards Association;
• Jeff Francis, Vermont Principals Association;
• Michael Leichliter, Vermont Superintendents Association;
• Jeff Fannon, Vermont NEA;
• Elizabeth Jennings, Vermont Association of School Business Officers;
• John Castle, Vermont Rural Education Collaborative and;
• Oliver Olsen, Vermont Independent Schools Association.

Commission Timetable

• Begin meetings: July 15, 2024
• Have work/public engagement plan ready:  Sept. 15, 2025
• Interim recommendations for “short-term cost containment”:   Dec. 15, 2024
• Draft final report: Oct. 1, 2025
• Final report: Dec. 1, 2025
• Proposed legislative language: Dec. 15, 2025
• Disbanding of commission: Dec. 31, 2025

Act 183 was rushed through at the end of the legislative session because the state needed to set its education tax rate. The commission may be an attempt to find solutions to the problems in Vermont’s education system including declining enrollments and increasing costs. It might also be a gesture for an angry public to demonstrate that the legislature is taking the problems seriously.

“My hope is that we can think differently about what we’re doing and find some ways…forward in a different direction and the direction that all of us think is good for Vermont public schools,” said Leichliter.

The commission has met once as has the Steering Group. With 28 meetings left, The Telegraph will be following the progress of the effort in the same way it did with Act 46.  The next Steering Committee meeting will be held on August 5 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Here is the agenda.

Do you have questions about the commission’s work? Let us know by emailing scunningham@chestertelegraph.org