Vermont Governor Phil Scott dedicated most of his weekly briefing Wednesday to discussing the quality and cost of the state’s education system.
Scott, a Republican, opened his briefing noting that Vermont’s education spending in 2018 totaled $1.6 billion and it has increased to $2.4 billion, yet the number of students has dropped.
“If we want to give our kids a quality education without crushing Vermonters with unsustainable growth year after year, we have to do something different, especially when our student performance is in the middle of the pack in many areas. This is not a critique of students, teachers or parents,” Scott emphasized. “But it does show not enough of the money we're spending on education is making it to our kids. We can't address education quality without addressing education costs and affordability, because the worst thing we can do in an affordability crisis is making things less affordable while getting the same results.”
Officials from the Agency of Education have completed the first phase of a Listen and Learn tour that Interim Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders says will allow the agency to focus on the educational priorities of communities across the state.
“The Listen and Learn tour is critical part of developing the Agency of Education’s strategic plan to ensure our efforts support Vermont's short term and long term educational needs,” explained Saunders. “This work is happening at a critical time when state leaders, including the Commission on the Future of Public Education, educators and community members are contemplating changes to how we deliver a quality education to every Vermont student in a way that is sustainable.”
Saunders outlined the five goals of the tour.
“First, the Agency of Education aims to align its work to regional and local priorities. Second, the Listen and Learn Tour will help us identify how the agency can most effectively support high quality teaching and learning. Third, this collaborative process will ultimately inform changes that expand students' access to high quality educational opportunities. Fourth, the Listen and Learn tour will identify key opportunities for improving student achievement. Finally, the Listen and Learn tour will help the Agency of Education develop a strategic plan that meets the state's immediate priorities while supporting the future statewide vision for public education in Vermont,” Saunders said.
A hotel-motel voucher program was created during the pandemic for low-income Vermonters. This fall vouchers for more than 1,000 individuals expired and they were dropped from that emergency housing program. Local leaders have said they do not have the resources to support those now seeking housing and have urged the state to take action. Governor Scott said the state is planning to open shelters in Waterbury, Montpelier and Williston.
“Those are areas where we think we can move forward. The most complex, I think the biggest need is in Rutland. That is ongoing. The diocese wants to make sure that we have a provider there,” noted Scott. “The provider that we thought was originally interested has backed out and that remains the biggest obstacle. We need someone to run this shelter in Rutland where there's the highest need. So we've engaged with Rutland. We continue to track down any leads we have on that. We have the facility. The diocese has that available. But we need to have a provider there in place before they're ready to open that up.”
The Agency of Education is planning seven in-person and two virtual public engagement sessions as part of the Listen and Learn tour between October 22 and November 7th to get input from parents, students and community members on improving education in Vermont.
